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.
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Two million Muslims are now living in the UK, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith revealed yesterday.

The milestone total includes 10,000 millionaires, she said during a visit to Pakistan to discuss counter-terrorism.
It means the Islamic population in the UK has increased by 400,000 since the 2001 census - adding more than 50,000 to the total each year.
Miss Smith told the Pakistan National Council of the Arts: “After Christianity, Islam is the largest faith community in the UK.
“1.6million declared themselves Muslims in the 2001 census, and that figure may now be as high as 2million. Islam is one of many faiths which are practised in UK communities.
“We are proud to live in such a diverse country.
“Muslims play a full and active part in British society: in politics, from Parliament to local government, in the armed forces, policing, the professions, the arts and sports, and of course in business.”
The Home Secretary said she wants Britain’s universities to “provide high quality learning about faith and Islam and to establish the UK as centre of excellence outside the Islamic world for Islamic studies”.
She repeated the Government’s new position there is no such thing as “Islamic terrorism”, telling the audience: “Terrorism has no place in Islamic thought, teaching or tradition. It is the opposite of everything that Islam stands for: Peace, Tolerance and Obedience to God.

“The ideology promoted by terrorists is a perverse rewriting of history and politics, and a misreading of a great religion.”

But Miss Smith said that terrorist plots in the UK had been traced back to Pakistan, and also that the terrorist threat to Pakistan had links to the UK.

She called on the people of both countries to play their part by rejecting the terrorists’ ideology, and isolating those who support them.

The Home Secretary added: “The majority has to speak out against the terrorist world view; challenge their image; call to account advocates of violence extremism; protect our institutions; and support those who are most at risk. But to do all this the majority has to make itself stronger, more articulate and outspoken, more challenging.”

Last month, the Vatican’s newspaper reported that Islam had overtaken Roman Catholicism to become the world’s largest single religious denomination.

In an interview with the paper Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, compilier of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican yearbook, said: “For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us.”

He said that figures for 2006 showed that Catholics accounted for 17.4 per cent of the world population while Muslims accounted for 19.2 per cent
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They say style is something you are born with. But you can’t blame a girl for trying.And Coleen McLoughlin is trying very hard indeed to look like Audrey Hepburn.

The 22-year-old bride-to-be has undergone an extraordinary transformation to become a very fitting lookalike for the Hollywood style siren.
With sleek chignon, cigarette holder and long black gloves, Wayne Rooney’s fiancé does her best impression of the actress in the classic movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Miss McLoughlin also poses as Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe for Closer magazine.

She is not alone in citing Audrey Hepburn as her fashion inspiration. Victoria Beckham is also a fan.

Miss McLoughlin’s recreation of the famed Breakfast at Tiffany’s pose is another indication that she wants to follow in the footsteps of original WAG Mrs Beckahm.

Miss McLoughlin, who spent her early days in the spotlight in comfy tracksuits and Ugg boots, now prefers outfits that show off her svelte size 10 figure.

Whether her wedding dress will be inspired by the Hepburn style she so admires will be revealed in June when she marries Rooney in Italy.

“Audrey was so sophisticated,” she said.

“She really defined the classic look. That’s what made her an icon.”

Both Coleen and Posh cite slender Miss Hepburn as their style heroine and last month Mrs Beckham appeared on the cover of Vogue in a gown that drew comparisons with Hepburn’s other famous role, Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady.

Miss Hepburn died in 1993 aged 63. The original Givenchy little black dress worn in the opening sequence of the film was sold at auction in London for just under £500,000 in December 2006.

Miss McLoughlin, who is a size 10, told Closer magazine that despite her upcoming June wedding she is not following a strict regime to lose further weight.

She said: “I’d love to lose a few more pounds, but I’m not dieting for the wedding. I’m not even doing Weight Watchers at the moment.”

Coleen has long felt Miss Hepburn is the best point of reference for her often eclectic style.

In 2005, she turned up the National Television Awards in London in a 1950s vintage dress and almost £1million worth of diamonds borrowed from high class jeweller Chopard.

She spoke of how she had styled herself on her Hepburn, but sadly when she opened her mouth she betrayed rather more down-market roots.

“I love wearing all these diamonds, I feel dead classy, they are really stunning,” she said.

“They are heart-shaped. I picked them because I am in love.

“I feel really precious because they are worth a million pounds, so I have had to have a bodyguard with me all night.

“They really go with my dress because it is vintage. I am modelling myself on Audrey Hepburn. I think she had so much class and I really love her.

“I think that 1950s style is so much more elegant, and even though it is very trendy right now – for me it will never be unfashionable because that is the style I really admire.”

Bride-to-be Coleen, who marries Rooney, 22, in June,set the record straight about what she has planned saying: “It’s going to be a mainly family affair.

“That’s what me and Wayne have always wanted. My friends and family know the plans, but they’re very good at keeping secrets and we know we can trust them.”

Coleen has been engaged to the Manchester United footballer since she was 17, added: “I can’t wait to be Mrs Rooney.

“It’s like getting ready for a big holiday in lots of ways. I’m eating really healthily, drinking plenty of water and going to the gym a lot more, maybe three or four times a week - I can really feel myself toning up.

“My skin’s benefiting from my healthy regime too. If you eat healthily, drink lots of water and work out then your skin has a great glow. I’m having facials every four weeks as well.”

The wedding, as the Mail recently revealed, has provided Miss McLoughlin with quite a dilemma.

Having banned many of Wayne’s troublesome family members from the main celebrations on the Italian Riviera, she has pledged to have a subsequent party on home turf.

Coleen is understood to believe the wedding, which is sponsored by a celebrity glossy magazine to the tune of £2.5 million, is the ideal way to catapult her and Wayne into the American national consciousness.

But she is all too aware of the need to keep her future in-laws in check.

“This is a very big deal for Coleen. She is even hoping to get the wedding in the American version of the glossy magazine in the hope that it will launch her and Wayne as a major new celebrity couple out there.

“She wants to launch Brand Rooney in the US in the same way that Brand Beckham did.

“And she does not want anything spoiling that - like drunken in-laws for example.”
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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.”
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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.