Sophia Myles has said that she does not 'want to be famous,' despite joining the cast of BBC1 thriller [Spooks]. The actress, who has appeared in period dramas Mansfield Park, The Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby and Tristan & Isolade (and, Doctor Who, of course), told the Telegraph that she was happy her career success has not come hand-in-hand with public recognition. 
'I like to be able to sit in a café and watch the world go by and observe people. The minute you're famous, all eyes are on you and people are reacting to you in an unnatural way.' Speaking about her new character Beth Bailey, Myles said that she was pleased the role was based on a real MI6 agent. 'I've met her several times and she's very grounded, very sexy and very, very cool. It's amazing what a woman of a similar age to me has done with her time.' The thirty-year-old also revealed that Bailey would not be involved in any romantic plotlines this year. 'This is the first time I've told a story that doesn't involve romance,' she added.
Meanwhile, Richard Armitage has said that he is not worried about getting stuck in a 'spy rut' after appearing in [Spooks] which kicks off its new series tonight. The actor, who plays hunky lust-object Lucas North on the show, brushed aside fears of getting typecast because of the role. Asked if he was worried about the possibility, Armitage told Metro: 'I'm doing a Restoration comedy next year called The Rover. Comedy will be a big change for me,' - well, yeah, you were in The Vicar of Dibley, so you've never actually experienced comedy that's funny before - 'so I'm looking forward to it.
I want to have a go at doing something physical and funny.' Asked if he watched [Spooks] before joining the show in 2008, Armitage said: 'I missed it but when they approached me to join I watched the whole series on box set over a couple of days. I couldn't stop watching it - before I knew, it was 4am. None of the characters are safe and anyone can go at any minute. It's quite exciting; when a major character gets killed off they go in an interesting way. Every time a new character joins it takes the show in a new direction, which was part of the appeal of me joining.'
Joe Maddison's War was ITV's most watched one-off drama in at least three years on Sunday night, gaining an overnight audience of just over six million viewers.
Bradley Walsh has revealed that he may reprise his role as Danny Baldwin on Coronation Street in the future. Danny left Weatherfield under mysterious circumstances in 2006, after the actor decided to quit the serial. However, the fifty-year-old actor, comedian and presenter admitted that he would now 'love to go back.' Walsh told Holy Soap:
'If the time was right for them and Danny Baldwin needs to go back, and the time is right for me where I've actually got some time to do it. Because you can't just go in and do one, two or three weeks - you have to really put your mind to it. The scripts come four months in advance, it's a bit like the alignment of the moon and the stars to get it right.' He added: 'It was a fantastic show and a great character.'
Dannii Minogue has said that Sharon Osbourne made her cry before her first X Factor live show in 2007. According to the Daily Scum Mail, the thirty eight-year-old least famous of the Minogue sisters reveals in her new autobiography - My Story - that Osbourne had become furious over press reports of a feud between the two judges, and argued with Minogue in her dressing room because Minogue hadn't set the record straight. Minogue wrote: 'About thirty minutes before the live broadcast, there was [an] urgent knock on my dressing room door, and in bowled Sharon - still in her dressing gown - with her assistant tagging along behind her. Sharon demanded to know why I hadn't gone to the press to tell them what a nice person she was.
"All this bollocks in the press is ruining my life," she snapped. "You could be telling them that I'm a nice person but instead you're adding fuel to the fire by saying nothing." "Sharon, I have never said anything bad about you, and I wouldn't say anything bad about you," I told her. But she didn't seem interested in what I had to say.' Osbourne reportedly replied: '"Oh, don't play the innocent. Cos if you wanna play games, Missy, I'll play. Don't you worry, I'll play!'" Minogue admitted that she was 'shocked' at Osbourne's 'shouting and swearing,' adding: 'The minute she left, I burst into tears. I'd managed to hold it together while Sharon had been there, but once she'd gone I couldn't hold it in, and I wept into my hands. I wasn't crying because I thought there was any truth to what she'd said - I was crying because someone I had previously looked up to had bawled in my face and ruined my big night.' Oh, get over it you drama queen. Minogue also acknowledged that she 'still [felt] sad' about the situation: 'I wanted so much to enjoy being part of the gang and for us to have a laugh together. I also secretly wanted to meet her husband Ozzy. I guess that's not going to happen now.' Yeah, probably not. Particularly after you wrote all this in a book and put it into the public domain!
Simon Cowell is reportedly 'livid.' Again. This time it has happened because a contestant on The X Factor may have used her appearance to promote herself as a prostitute. Oh, blimey. Chloe Victoria, was put through to the next stage of the competition on the episode broadcast over the weekend. You've been and gone and done it now, Chloe. To see Simon Cowell incandescent with rage is, trust me, a sight to see. The Mirror reports that the twenty-year-old posted details of her audition on escort website Sex in the UK. It is alleged, by the newspaper, that Victoria 'promoted herself on the website while staying in London for the Boot Camp stage of the show.' While attending the second round of the competition, they claim, she 'frequently attended rehearsals late' and went 'missing from the contestants' hotel.' A 'source' whom the paper claims to be 'close to Cowell' told them: 'Simon will give anyone a chance in the show and he has been really supportive of Chloe but he made it clear this was all to stop during the show.
He was livid at finding out this may not have been the case at Boot Camp. He'd never rule someone out for their past, but Boot Camp is meant to be about everyone focusing completely.' The 'insider' (who was a 'source' a moment ago but, don't let that worry you, dear blog reader) allegedly added: 'Simon felt sorry for Chloe at first. But sympathy can wear thin if someone doesn't appreciate it. You can expect a major showdown.' Cowell has previously said that he would not axe Victoria simply because of her past as a sex worker.
Jason Manford has reportedly 'irritated' his ONE Show 'bosses' following his criticism of the BBC on Twitter. Last week, you'll probably remember, the comic used Twitter to criticise the corporation for allegedly censoring material which he performed at the Concert For Heroes. The News of the World claimed, on Sunday, that 'executives' will warn Manford: 'Either be a stand-up or a family entertainer. Not both. It's a crisis meeting.'
Leslie Ash has said that she would like to return to acting following her battle with a hospital-acquired infection. The former Men Behaving Badly actress contracted MSSA while receiving treatment in hospital in 2004. The virus, which is similar to MRSA, left Ash with permanent spinal injuries. The fifty-year-old appeared in Holby City last year, but told the Mirror that she would like to return to more regular work.
'Acting is what I love to do,' she said. 'But it's very hard for disabled actors to find work. More needs to be done.' She added: 'When I became ill it was like someone was pulling the rug from under me. I had a career, a family. Then all of a sudden I was in a wheelchair learning how to walk again.' Speaking about her role on Holby City, Ash said: 'Being on Holby last year was wonderful. I missed TV so much. I had spent three months in hospital wondering if I would ever walk again, let alone act. So to get back on TV was a huge thing. Part of me wondered if I could do it, but I proved I could.'
Selina Scott has returned to the BBC just months after accusing the corporation of ageism and sexism for employing too few older female newsreaders. She is filling in for Moira Stewart on Chris Evans' Radio 2 breakfast show while Stewart is on holiday. Earlier this year, Scott urged the BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust, to address 'blatant and sometimes malign sexism and ageism against women.' Scott helped launch BBC Breakfast Time in 1983 and, subsequently, worked for ITN and Sky. She now makes her own brand of socks from goat wool in Yorkshire. Which, says it all, really. I never liked her, personally, even back when she was the pretty young face of BBC news (and, I notice she wasn't complaining about either sexism or ageism back then, when she was seemingly too busy to notice she herself, effectively, usurped Angela Rippon's role at the Beeb).
Too full of herself and her own importance, that one. Had a slighty 'superior' ambiance to her that I found very unappealing. Always thought so. And, she was nauseatingly cloying when she filled in as a presenter on Wogan for a few weeks, I seem to remember. She said: 'Chris makes me laugh - he's a cheeky boy, that's why I'm doing his show, getting up at an ungodly hour before dawn. I haven't done that since I launched BBC Breakfast more than twenty five years ago.' Evans said: 'It's a fair swap, I have to admit. Like bringing Shearer on for Lineker. Moira goes Stateside, Selina arrives from her goat farm in Yorkshire.' In 2008, Scott reached a settlement with Channel Five after suing them for age discrimination. She was reportedly being lined-up to provide maternity cover for Five News host Natasha Kaplinsky but was subsequently overlooked. This July, she presented a report about alleged discrimination to BBC Trust Chairman Sir Michael Lyons, compiled with charity Age Concern and Equal Justice. At that time, she wrote in the Daily Telegraph about her experiences dealing with the BBC, ITV and Five in recent years. 'I experienced in this period a disregarding, unthinking, almost casual maiming which leaves women like me with their confidence and career in tatters but which is done in a sly and at times almost unspoken and Machiavellian way,' she wrote. You mean, they wouldn't give you a job? Perhaps because they thought you weren't very good, had that occurred to you at all Sal? 'You are rarely told outright that you are not wanted. There is never a conversation. It seems to be conducted by whispers in corridors. It's insidious, cowardly and unworthy of the great traditions of a public broadcaster like the BBC.' Oh, quit whinging. That's showbusiness, love, when yer Keith Telly Topping's looks go, I'll be knackered as well. You go back to knitting yer own socks, grandma, and leave it to Fiona Bruce and Sophie Raworth to show you what class is all about.
The BBC is reportedly planning a Christmas version of Strictly Come Dancing. According to the Mirror, the show's producers are hoping to include high-profile celebrities who are unable to commit to the original series. Although, given that a festive episode was broadcast last Christmas Day, I really don't see that this is, in any way, surprising. Next, presumably, we'll also be getting some shitehawk 'exclusive' that they're doing Doctor Who and EastEnders Christmas specials as well? What a scoop. The Strictly special will, allegedly, see contestants rehearse and film the show within two weeks. The events will then be compiled into a single programme. 'A one-off Christmas tournament gives celebs the chance to taste a bit of Strictly glamour without committing to the full run,' a 'source' told the paper. They claim. 'We're hopeful that big names who don't have the time or the energy to work on a series might have two weeks. Their families can see them strutting their stuff on Christmas Day.' Has a BBC spokesperson - official or otherwise - ever used the words 'strutting their stuff' in your experience, dear blog reader?
Louie Spence has admitted that he finds Adrian Chiles 'boring,' and that he preferred waking up with breakfast show predecessor Ben Shephard. Fnaar, fnaar. The Pineapple Dance Studios star said that he favoured GMTV over Chiles's Daybreak, adding that Shephard 'used to get [him] up in the morning.'
Oh, stop it! According to the Sun, Spence said: 'Adrian Chiles is boring. Is that what you really want to wake up to? I liked GMTV with all the purple. I don't know why they axed it. Daybreak is too bland. It needs more colour.' It's got plenty of orange, mate. Just look at Christine, that's all the colour you'll ever need. The flamboyant dancer also believes that he knows the perfect way to improve Daybreak. 'Get me on it,' he suggested. Well ... I suppose if they get desperate enough ...
And, speaking of the orange one, has anybody else caught those astonishing trailers that herself is doing for ITV's coverage of Simply Red's final performance next weekend? I know it makes sense to 'match colours' and all that but were they really so keen to compliment Mick Hucknell's hair with somebody with a ginger face?
And, finally, Katie Price has reportedly refused to be filmed for the BBC show Traffic Cops. The model, reality TV regular and tabloid staple was pulled over by police when they spotted her 'BO55Y KT' registration plate, the Sun allege. The police, the claim, also discovered that Price had no insurance. However, when cameramen started to film the scenes for Traffic Cops, Price refused to co-operate because she is contracted to ITV. She reportedly asked officers: 'Can you sit here with me please? I don't want to be on camera.' Crikey, that's got to be a first. The newspaper quotes PC Ray Dalmon as saying: 'I was horrified this woman who earns all this money had no insurance. She explained she had new plates and her brother was going to put them on. She phoned her mum, who organised her insurance.' 
I'm not, entirely, sure that any police officer should be giving out comments on a confidential matter such as this. That is, of course, if he did. Or, if he even exists. Which he may do. I don't know. I just report the news. Unlike the Sun.
'I like to be able to sit in a café and watch the world go by and observe people. The minute you're famous, all eyes are on you and people are reacting to you in an unnatural way.' Speaking about her new character Beth Bailey, Myles said that she was pleased the role was based on a real MI6 agent. 'I've met her several times and she's very grounded, very sexy and very, very cool. It's amazing what a woman of a similar age to me has done with her time.' The thirty-year-old also revealed that Bailey would not be involved in any romantic plotlines this year. 'This is the first time I've told a story that doesn't involve romance,' she added.Meanwhile, Richard Armitage has said that he is not worried about getting stuck in a 'spy rut' after appearing in [Spooks] which kicks off its new series tonight. The actor, who plays hunky lust-object Lucas North on the show, brushed aside fears of getting typecast because of the role. Asked if he was worried about the possibility, Armitage told Metro: 'I'm doing a Restoration comedy next year called The Rover. Comedy will be a big change for me,' - well, yeah, you were in The Vicar of Dibley, so you've never actually experienced comedy that's funny before - 'so I'm looking forward to it.
I want to have a go at doing something physical and funny.' Asked if he watched [Spooks] before joining the show in 2008, Armitage said: 'I missed it but when they approached me to join I watched the whole series on box set over a couple of days. I couldn't stop watching it - before I knew, it was 4am. None of the characters are safe and anyone can go at any minute. It's quite exciting; when a major character gets killed off they go in an interesting way. Every time a new character joins it takes the show in a new direction, which was part of the appeal of me joining.'Joe Maddison's War was ITV's most watched one-off drama in at least three years on Sunday night, gaining an overnight audience of just over six million viewers.
Bradley Walsh has revealed that he may reprise his role as Danny Baldwin on Coronation Street in the future. Danny left Weatherfield under mysterious circumstances in 2006, after the actor decided to quit the serial. However, the fifty-year-old actor, comedian and presenter admitted that he would now 'love to go back.' Walsh told Holy Soap:
'If the time was right for them and Danny Baldwin needs to go back, and the time is right for me where I've actually got some time to do it. Because you can't just go in and do one, two or three weeks - you have to really put your mind to it. The scripts come four months in advance, it's a bit like the alignment of the moon and the stars to get it right.' He added: 'It was a fantastic show and a great character.'Dannii Minogue has said that Sharon Osbourne made her cry before her first X Factor live show in 2007. According to the Daily Scum Mail, the thirty eight-year-old least famous of the Minogue sisters reveals in her new autobiography - My Story - that Osbourne had become furious over press reports of a feud between the two judges, and argued with Minogue in her dressing room because Minogue hadn't set the record straight. Minogue wrote: 'About thirty minutes before the live broadcast, there was [an] urgent knock on my dressing room door, and in bowled Sharon - still in her dressing gown - with her assistant tagging along behind her. Sharon demanded to know why I hadn't gone to the press to tell them what a nice person she was.
"All this bollocks in the press is ruining my life," she snapped. "You could be telling them that I'm a nice person but instead you're adding fuel to the fire by saying nothing." "Sharon, I have never said anything bad about you, and I wouldn't say anything bad about you," I told her. But she didn't seem interested in what I had to say.' Osbourne reportedly replied: '"Oh, don't play the innocent. Cos if you wanna play games, Missy, I'll play. Don't you worry, I'll play!'" Minogue admitted that she was 'shocked' at Osbourne's 'shouting and swearing,' adding: 'The minute she left, I burst into tears. I'd managed to hold it together while Sharon had been there, but once she'd gone I couldn't hold it in, and I wept into my hands. I wasn't crying because I thought there was any truth to what she'd said - I was crying because someone I had previously looked up to had bawled in my face and ruined my big night.' Oh, get over it you drama queen. Minogue also acknowledged that she 'still [felt] sad' about the situation: 'I wanted so much to enjoy being part of the gang and for us to have a laugh together. I also secretly wanted to meet her husband Ozzy. I guess that's not going to happen now.' Yeah, probably not. Particularly after you wrote all this in a book and put it into the public domain!Simon Cowell is reportedly 'livid.' Again. This time it has happened because a contestant on The X Factor may have used her appearance to promote herself as a prostitute. Oh, blimey. Chloe Victoria, was put through to the next stage of the competition on the episode broadcast over the weekend. You've been and gone and done it now, Chloe. To see Simon Cowell incandescent with rage is, trust me, a sight to see. The Mirror reports that the twenty-year-old posted details of her audition on escort website Sex in the UK. It is alleged, by the newspaper, that Victoria 'promoted herself on the website while staying in London for the Boot Camp stage of the show.' While attending the second round of the competition, they claim, she 'frequently attended rehearsals late' and went 'missing from the contestants' hotel.' A 'source' whom the paper claims to be 'close to Cowell' told them: 'Simon will give anyone a chance in the show and he has been really supportive of Chloe but he made it clear this was all to stop during the show.
He was livid at finding out this may not have been the case at Boot Camp. He'd never rule someone out for their past, but Boot Camp is meant to be about everyone focusing completely.' The 'insider' (who was a 'source' a moment ago but, don't let that worry you, dear blog reader) allegedly added: 'Simon felt sorry for Chloe at first. But sympathy can wear thin if someone doesn't appreciate it. You can expect a major showdown.' Cowell has previously said that he would not axe Victoria simply because of her past as a sex worker.Jason Manford has reportedly 'irritated' his ONE Show 'bosses' following his criticism of the BBC on Twitter. Last week, you'll probably remember, the comic used Twitter to criticise the corporation for allegedly censoring material which he performed at the Concert For Heroes. The News of the World claimed, on Sunday, that 'executives' will warn Manford: 'Either be a stand-up or a family entertainer. Not both. It's a crisis meeting.'
Leslie Ash has said that she would like to return to acting following her battle with a hospital-acquired infection. The former Men Behaving Badly actress contracted MSSA while receiving treatment in hospital in 2004. The virus, which is similar to MRSA, left Ash with permanent spinal injuries. The fifty-year-old appeared in Holby City last year, but told the Mirror that she would like to return to more regular work.
'Acting is what I love to do,' she said. 'But it's very hard for disabled actors to find work. More needs to be done.' She added: 'When I became ill it was like someone was pulling the rug from under me. I had a career, a family. Then all of a sudden I was in a wheelchair learning how to walk again.' Speaking about her role on Holby City, Ash said: 'Being on Holby last year was wonderful. I missed TV so much. I had spent three months in hospital wondering if I would ever walk again, let alone act. So to get back on TV was a huge thing. Part of me wondered if I could do it, but I proved I could.'Selina Scott has returned to the BBC just months after accusing the corporation of ageism and sexism for employing too few older female newsreaders. She is filling in for Moira Stewart on Chris Evans' Radio 2 breakfast show while Stewart is on holiday. Earlier this year, Scott urged the BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust, to address 'blatant and sometimes malign sexism and ageism against women.' Scott helped launch BBC Breakfast Time in 1983 and, subsequently, worked for ITN and Sky. She now makes her own brand of socks from goat wool in Yorkshire. Which, says it all, really. I never liked her, personally, even back when she was the pretty young face of BBC news (and, I notice she wasn't complaining about either sexism or ageism back then, when she was seemingly too busy to notice she herself, effectively, usurped Angela Rippon's role at the Beeb).
Too full of herself and her own importance, that one. Had a slighty 'superior' ambiance to her that I found very unappealing. Always thought so. And, she was nauseatingly cloying when she filled in as a presenter on Wogan for a few weeks, I seem to remember. She said: 'Chris makes me laugh - he's a cheeky boy, that's why I'm doing his show, getting up at an ungodly hour before dawn. I haven't done that since I launched BBC Breakfast more than twenty five years ago.' Evans said: 'It's a fair swap, I have to admit. Like bringing Shearer on for Lineker. Moira goes Stateside, Selina arrives from her goat farm in Yorkshire.' In 2008, Scott reached a settlement with Channel Five after suing them for age discrimination. She was reportedly being lined-up to provide maternity cover for Five News host Natasha Kaplinsky but was subsequently overlooked. This July, she presented a report about alleged discrimination to BBC Trust Chairman Sir Michael Lyons, compiled with charity Age Concern and Equal Justice. At that time, she wrote in the Daily Telegraph about her experiences dealing with the BBC, ITV and Five in recent years. 'I experienced in this period a disregarding, unthinking, almost casual maiming which leaves women like me with their confidence and career in tatters but which is done in a sly and at times almost unspoken and Machiavellian way,' she wrote. You mean, they wouldn't give you a job? Perhaps because they thought you weren't very good, had that occurred to you at all Sal? 'You are rarely told outright that you are not wanted. There is never a conversation. It seems to be conducted by whispers in corridors. It's insidious, cowardly and unworthy of the great traditions of a public broadcaster like the BBC.' Oh, quit whinging. That's showbusiness, love, when yer Keith Telly Topping's looks go, I'll be knackered as well. You go back to knitting yer own socks, grandma, and leave it to Fiona Bruce and Sophie Raworth to show you what class is all about.The BBC is reportedly planning a Christmas version of Strictly Come Dancing. According to the Mirror, the show's producers are hoping to include high-profile celebrities who are unable to commit to the original series. Although, given that a festive episode was broadcast last Christmas Day, I really don't see that this is, in any way, surprising. Next, presumably, we'll also be getting some shitehawk 'exclusive' that they're doing Doctor Who and EastEnders Christmas specials as well? What a scoop. The Strictly special will, allegedly, see contestants rehearse and film the show within two weeks. The events will then be compiled into a single programme. 'A one-off Christmas tournament gives celebs the chance to taste a bit of Strictly glamour without committing to the full run,' a 'source' told the paper. They claim. 'We're hopeful that big names who don't have the time or the energy to work on a series might have two weeks. Their families can see them strutting their stuff on Christmas Day.' Has a BBC spokesperson - official or otherwise - ever used the words 'strutting their stuff' in your experience, dear blog reader?
Louie Spence has admitted that he finds Adrian Chiles 'boring,' and that he preferred waking up with breakfast show predecessor Ben Shephard. Fnaar, fnaar. The Pineapple Dance Studios star said that he favoured GMTV over Chiles's Daybreak, adding that Shephard 'used to get [him] up in the morning.'
Oh, stop it! According to the Sun, Spence said: 'Adrian Chiles is boring. Is that what you really want to wake up to? I liked GMTV with all the purple. I don't know why they axed it. Daybreak is too bland. It needs more colour.' It's got plenty of orange, mate. Just look at Christine, that's all the colour you'll ever need. The flamboyant dancer also believes that he knows the perfect way to improve Daybreak. 'Get me on it,' he suggested. Well ... I suppose if they get desperate enough ...And, speaking of the orange one, has anybody else caught those astonishing trailers that herself is doing for ITV's coverage of Simply Red's final performance next weekend? I know it makes sense to 'match colours' and all that but were they really so keen to compliment Mick Hucknell's hair with somebody with a ginger face?
And, finally, Katie Price has reportedly refused to be filmed for the BBC show Traffic Cops. The model, reality TV regular and tabloid staple was pulled over by police when they spotted her 'BO55Y KT' registration plate, the Sun allege. The police, the claim, also discovered that Price had no insurance. However, when cameramen started to film the scenes for Traffic Cops, Price refused to co-operate because she is contracted to ITV. She reportedly asked officers: 'Can you sit here with me please? I don't want to be on camera.' Crikey, that's got to be a first. The newspaper quotes PC Ray Dalmon as saying: 'I was horrified this woman who earns all this money had no insurance. She explained she had new plates and her brother was going to put them on. She phoned her mum, who organised her insurance.' 
I'm not, entirely, sure that any police officer should be giving out comments on a confidential matter such as this. That is, of course, if he did. Or, if he even exists. Which he may do. I don't know. I just report the news. Unlike the Sun. 
