Family Entertainment Blog

Doctor Who and exuberant sidekick Donna team up following their successful series opener - which attracted nine million viewers - to battle it out in ancient Rome next week.Newly released pictures show the Doctor and Donna squaring up to a series of outrageous baddies in notorious volcano hotspot Pompeii.
 
This week’s show will include cameos from Peter Capaldi - of satire The Thick of It - and Quadrophenia’s Phil Davis.

The series four opener on Saturday wiped the floor with the competition, attracting nine million viewers, 300,000 more than episode one of series three last year.
BBC One’s programme Casualty recorded 7.1m viewers, while its latest musical talent show I’d Do Anything, plus the National Lottery each secured 6.8m viewers.
ITV’s long running clip show You’ve Been Framed recorded 4.7m while Harry Hill’s TV Burp secured 5.5m and Duel 5.6m.

Exotic: Donna and the Doctor will meet even more weird and wonderful characters in episode two

Rome is burning: The popular programme’s opening episode attracted nine million viewers

Saturday’s episode saw the Doctor reunited with Catherine Tate as the Doctor’s new companion Donna, reprising her role from the 2006 Christmas Special The Runaway Bride.
The latest series secured an audience share of 39.4 per cent.
Billie Piper also made a surprise appearance in the initial episode as Rose Tyler.

Reunited: Catherine Tate reprised her role from the 2006 Christmas Special The Runaway Bride

A BBC spokesperson said: “This is a great start for the new series of Doctor Who. The show kicked off a fantastic night of family entertainment on BBC One which pulled in big audiences across the evening.”
The previous third series of the show secured an average 7.03 million viewers.
The series will also see Billie Piper returns as Rose Tyler and Freema Agyeman will also re-appear as Martha Jones.

Meanwhile, someone who should know a thing or two about being the daughter of a timelord is actress Georgia Moffett.
The daughter of former Doctor Who actor Peter Davison, is to star in the hit BBC1 show.

Bizarre: Georgia Moffett, daughter of former Dr Who timelord Peter Davison (left), will play the part of a woman who claims to the daughter to the current timelord David Tenant
Bizarrely she will play the part of a woman who claims to be the child of the current timelord, played by David Tenant.
Moffett, 23, who is the daughter of Davison and his former wife, squeaky voice US actress Sandra Dickinson, makes an appearance in the sixth episode.
Insiders are saying very little about her part other than she claims to be the daughter of Doctor Who, a claim of which the sci-fi hero is “dubious”.
Moffett has had a colourful life already having seen her parents marriage fall apart when she was eight and then herself falling pregnant at 16.

Daddy Doctor: Georgina as she appears as the Doctor’s alleged daughter
She has since carved out a successful acting career having starred in ITV shows The Bill, Where The Heart Is and Bonkers.
The mother, whose son is called Ty, has previously starred alongside her 56-year-old dad in BBC sitcom Fear, Stress and Anger.
Moffett, whose character is called Jenny, grew up with Doctor Who as a child when her father played the role.
She became pregnant at 16 during her GCSEs after taking antibiotics while on the pill, not realising they can negate its contraceptive effects.
By the time she found out she was having a baby she was no longer with the father.
At the time she had waited three months to tell her parents eventually presenting her mum with a picture of her ultrasound scan as she broke the news.
She did not have the courage to tell her dad, so she told her stepmother.
Bizarrely her best friend at school was the daughter of Colin Baker, the actor that succeeded Davison as the timelord.
She is said to be still close to both her parents, but has admitted that her mother and father do not talk to each other.
Her mother famously starred in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and she even starred alongside Davison in a stage production of The Owl and The Pussycat.
Davison, as well as Doctor Who, is famous for his appearances in All Creatures Great And Small, At Home With The Braithwaites.
daily

As they stepped off the catwalk after modelling underwear in front of a crowd of 2,000 people, the group of five models, all working on the Channel 4 show How to Look Good Naked, understandably expected at least a few token words of gratitude from the show’s presenter, Gok Wan.

After all, the programme’s success has made the bizarre-looking Wan a household name, and this particular catwalk show marked the culmination of weeks of preparation for the ordinary women participating who, thanks to the flamboyant male stylist, had apparently learned to love their bodies.
Smile for the camera: Stylist Gok Wan is joined by a congregation of women for a promotional shot for the series
But while the show’s participants basked in admiration and praise from Gok Wan, the models who had flanked them on the catwalk faced an altogether different reception backstage.

In a show of venom and acerbity unseen on screen, Gok called the models “sl*gs” and “dirty little sl*ts”.

In further insults too vile to print, he later singled out 25-year-old model Daisy Idwal Jones, making obscene and derogatory comments about her body in front of at least 20 people, including one of the show’s producers.

His explanation? A self-satisfied: “I’m rich. I can do what I f*****g like.”

And to make matters worse, this was not the first, or the last time the girls would face such abuse over the three days of filming, which took place at Manchester’s Trafford Centre last spring.

It certainly paints a different picture of the self-promoting stylist who launches a new series of How To Look Good Naked on Channel 4 tonight.

He has been described as a “saint” by the ordinary women whose lives he has apparently transformed by attempting to instill in them a confidence in their own bodies, while helping them to choose clothes, which will flatter their figures.
Offended: Plus-size model Daisy Idwal Jones says she never agreed to be filmed naked but at one stage a camera was so close it was touching her bare skin
But today, Daisy Idwal Jones feels compelled to speak out about the foul-mouthed prima donna she witnessed in private.

“Gok reduced me to tears on many occasions during filming,” says Daisy, who was the face of New Look’s Inspire range.

“I’ve never been at the receiving end of such vile, misogynistic language and I was horrified. And it wasn’t just me. He verbally abused all the models, and even made disgusting comments about our genitals.”

For a man with over ten years’ experience as a fashion stylist - Gok started his career in 1998 after dropping out of drama school, and his celebrity clients include Bryan Ferry and the girl band All Saints - a little professionalism was the least Daisy had hoped for.

Particularly as Gok’s own battle with his weight and self-esteem - he once confessed to weighing 21 stone as a teenager - has been well-documented. But Daisy says she was subjected to nothing but vitriol.

“Gok didn’t seem to care in the slightest what he called us. It was disgusting and he left me with my confidence badly shaken. I don’t think people who behave as he does should be on the payroll of a national broadcaster.

“Is this kind of misogyny really appropriate in a programme that claims to be helping women to feel good about themselves? What kind of explanation or justification could there be?”

On the surface, How To Look Good Naked - the last series of which garnered an average of 3.5 million viewers - appears to be one of the more benign of Channel 4’s stable of reality television shows.

Wan clearly revels in his role of outrageous fairy godmother to miserable women, all desperately unhappy with their bodies.

Thanks to his unique brand of cod psychology, he has been hailed the imperfect woman’s champion and seen his public profile rocket.

But there is a damning dossier of correspondence in existence between Daisy Idwal Jones, Channel 4 and Maverick, the production company, as well as a letter from another distressed model, that suggests otherwise.

It was certainly not the experience Daisy, who lives in South London and has been working as a plus size model since 2003, expected to have when she was employed last October, originally to model in a book to accompany the show.

“I’d never heard of Gok Wan at that point, but I thought what he was doing sounded great,” she says.

“As a plus-size model and a size 14, I do feel as though I represent the average girl in the UK and it’s important to me to help girls feel confident about themselves rather than disguising their bodies in tightly-fitting control underwear, or living on a constant diet.”

“Gok was overseeing the shoot. I remember thinking that he was very vulgar - he swore a lot - but at the same time, my first impressions of him were that he was a nice person genuinely trying to help ordinary women.

“The shoot went well and an image of me ended up appearing on the front and back covers of the book. I felt proud to have taken part.”

A few months later, Daisy was asked to attend a casting for the television programme.

While there, she was told that Gok had personally asked for her to take part.

“They said they were looking for catwalk models for the series, to flank the ordinary women as they reached the end of their journey with Gok and had to model underwear,” says Daisy.

“There were eight women taking part in all, and I was booked over one weekend to film the catwalk shows of the first four. The other four would film their catwalk shows at a later date.”

“The fee was dreadful - £300 for three full days’ work, which is very poor by modelling standards - but I said I’d do it for free if need be because I thought it was a positive project.

“The book had been a good experience and I naturally thought the show would be the same.”

But from the moment rehearsals started on the first day, it became clear that this experience was going to be very different.

Daisy says: “I turned up there thinking Gok actually cares about these women and he is here to make women feel better about themselves, but within a few hours, he’d called the other models and me variously a ’sl*g’, a ’sl*t’ and ‘dirty little sl**s’.

“There was no apparent reason for this language. It was just the names he called us to get our attention, or when he was directing us during rehearsals.

“He also used language that was sexually threatening. He said things like ‘I’m going to f*** you,’ which was presumably supposed to be amusing.

“This was in front of various producers and executive producers from the production company, Maverick.

“They just all stood around laughing and no one told him to tone down his language or his attitude.

“It was as though just because he’s a celebrity it was OK for him to call us whores. They were condoning his behaviour by laughing with him and at us.”

Another humiliation came when Daisy and the models were filmed backstage while getting changed. “I hadn’t expected to be filmed at any time other than when I was on the catwalk,” says Daisy.

“But while the models and I were all naked, or topless and wearing tiny g-strings, the camera crew just burst into the changing room and started filming us.

“I told them I was furious with them, but they didn’t stop. I had not given any consent to be filmed naked - at one point the camera was so close it actually touched my body.

“When I told the producer how unhappy I was at being filmed in such a manner, I was told it would ‘make great TV’. But I’m not a reality TV star - I was employed as a professional, and appearing naked on television is something I would never do.”

But the final straw for Daisy came on the last day of filming, when Gok made bizarre and gratuitous references to her genitals.

“I’d just come backstage from being on the catwalk in front of 2,000 people to face this incomprehensible abuse and people from the production company were just standing there laughing,” she says.

“I felt very upset and extremely self-conscious. My opinion of Gok reached its lowest point.

“I’d felt like walking out from the first day of filming, and the only reason I’d stayed was because of the contributors. This was their moment and they were dependent on the models for confidence. I didn’t want to let them down.”

According to Daisy, during filming, other models likened the experience of working with Gok to being “exploited” and “violated”. With filming complete, they all complained to their agents.

Daisy and one other model, who does not wish to be named, then made formal complaints to Channel 4 and Maverick, the production company. Daisy also waived her fee, and asked to remove all footage of her from the programme.

“Afterwards, I was very upset and shaken by my experience,” she says. “I couldn’t sleep at all because I was in such a state and I was crying a lot, which is completely out of character for me. I just felt really humiliated by the whole thing and my confidence had taken a very bad knock.

“After the comments Gok made, I knew it would be a long time before I felt comfortable being seen in underwear again. I have always felt confident and sexy about my body. Suddenly I felt insecure and depressed.

“Within 24 hours of finishing, I’d decided I didn’t want to be involved in a programme like that at all. I refused to sign the consent form that I was presented with once filming was complete. I’d entered into a professional engagement in good faith.

“But it seemed difficult to get anyone to reassure me that I would not appear, against my will, in the final version of the show. Maverick wrote back to me, apologising ‘unreservedly’ for Gok’s ‘unacceptable behaviour’ while Channel 4 said that he had indeed been ‘impolite’.”

Despite her written complaints, Daisy was then, unbelievably, invited to do the next round of shows.

“Maverick claimed that I had received a personal apology from Gok and asked me to return, but at that point I hadn’t heard a word from him,” she says. “I’d have thought from the letter I wrote they would have realised I didn’t want anything more to do with Gok or the series.”

Daisy eventually received an e-mail from Gok. In it, he apologised and added: “I have always expressed myself through my brash and crude sense of humour, something until now I considered unique and funny.

“I am deeply sorry you did not find this amusing and I only wish I had been more perceptive and I had not been as crude in your presence.”

This, Daisy says, she found infuriating as the onus seemed to be being shifted on to her for being sensitive. It was another two weeks before she received confirmation that all footage of her, including the naked shots, had been removed from the programme.

The only footage that remained were shots in which she flanked the contributors on the catwalk but was unidentifiable.

Now, Daisy is keen to put the whole experience behind her - and is even launching her own ethical model agency, which will aim to prevent other models experiencing any kind of mistreatment.

However, it is clear she is still perplexed and angered by Gok Wan’s treatment of women.

“It’s a bitter irony that Gok’s entire career is supposedly based around loving women and wanting them to feel great about themselves. I felt I had to complain and take a stand against this kind of behaviour, which he clearly feels is acceptable in private.”

Last night, both Gok Wan and the Maverick production company were unavailable for comment. Meanwhile, Daisy remains furious at her experience.

She says: “I was shocked to find that someone so unprofessional, abusive and cruel could be branded as a guru for women in their struggle to accept and love their bodies.

“He’s touted as ‘TV’s loveable fashion expert’, but in my experience, Gok Wan doesn’t really love women at all. Quite the opposite.”
daily

Today, is the world’s release of Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. Its latenight shows were supposed to hit the records and show the biggest figure for the Wednesday releasing films. The former record-holder is “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and its box-office takings more than $8 million (these happy event took place in 2003). The fifth part of Harry Potter cinema version is managed to win the Lord but, unfortunately, they failed to win “The Pirate’s of The Caribbean”, the third part of this trilogy! It gathered 13 million of dollars! Let’s turn to the history, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” gathered $6 million, but it was released on a Friday. In France box-office takings at the first night are $13.7 million, Asian countries - $7.8 million. In Australia it is only $3 million. But is the fifth highest opening has ever been there. In South Korea only $1.5 million, but it is still 59% higher than the previous gatherings while opening of “Goblet” (November 2005). According to the company press-releases, Harry Potter (the fifth part) will be released in the record number of cinemas – 9000 and in 4285 cities and 13100 copies are going into the world’s release. Thus, hopes on Harry Potter’s successful running are rather high! Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix will be released in the 91 cinema (35 out of them are foreign cinemas). This film is the shortest one, comparing with the previous version. It lasts only 2 hours and 18 minutes. His main opponents are Shreck (the third part) and Transformers.  In Russia, the premiere will take place at the 19th of July! For this role Daniel Radcliffe will get 50 million dollars! Actually, this sum is not entirely his. He has to pay to his managers, agents and, of course, taxes! It is incredibly high payment. It can be explained, as though, Dan can be an actor of one movie! Harry Potter and his cinema versions are very popular, even extremely popular, even girls and friends associate Daniel with his main character. Some even call him Harry. According to the public opinion he will never be able to get this success again! Nevertheless, there are two more films about Harry Potter! But, Digital Spy are confident – Daniel Radcliffe till the rest of his life will be Harry Potter! But Daniel says, that he has no reasons to worry. This year he will become a person of majority age and will have an access to his 46 million of dollars! He thinks, it is no use to be upset and he will always be able to find less profitable but still interesting roles! By the way, he also mentioned, that he already has a decent sum of money, so it is no use to be worried about his future! Also, he added, that it is very flattering thing to be one of the richest and popular people of the World, but he is a self-sufficient person. By the way, let’s remember about “The Equus” – Daniel Theater debut – it was warmly received by critics.

You know, Dan Radcliffe and Harry Potter is still a very popular person and, correspondently, a hero. Why? Because, first of all, there are a lot of new films with him and then at the National Movie Awards Daniel Radcliffe won a gong for Best Male actor.

No doubts, Dan was shocked and didn’t know how to react. He is only 18-year-old and already got such a pleasant Award. For a couple of minutes he seemed to be glued to his place. This Award is made by public voting (he got it for the boy wizard role in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix) and in this voting Dan left behind such old sea-dogs as 007 Daniel Craig, 39, and Johnny Depp, 44.

Also, Emma Watson made a success, she got an Award for the Best Female role in the whole Harry Potter movies. She beat the following actresses: Keira Knightley, Eva Green and Kirsten Dunst. But Emma and Harry didn’t even expect to win such an Award, both agree, that they are very glad. Emma’s father added that he is so proud of his daughter. And, by the way, she still gets pocket money form her parents, despite the whole millions.

And even more interesting news, Daniel Radcliffe won’t turn down a proposal to be the following Bond, because it is so exciting to play in series, not in a single movie. Moreover, who doesn’t want to turn down James Bond? But, he has some hesitations, whether our world is ready to get acquainted with a not very tall Bond? 

Enjoy the video of stunning and bewildered Daniel Radcliffe…

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix won a Rotten Tomatoes Golden Tomato award! And it is great and it is cool and once again, we can name Dan and Emma the best of the best. I am so glad, as if I got it myself. They are so cool and talented and, of course, the movie deserves this award.