Showbiz: “If it all goes t**s up, then I’ll turn up in the pub with seaweed all over me”

Joanna Gumley casts her views over recent showbiz and telly stories…

Emma Grede talks motherhood and being a woman in business

Table Manners with Jessie & Lennie Ware welcomed Emma Grede to a recent edition of the podcast. On the pronunciation of her name Grede said, ‘It’s actually Swedish, so it’s Grede (emphasis on the first E). But most Americans say greedy, and in England, they say greed, but the correct pronunciation is Grede. But who’s gonna do that?’

On motherhood, ‘I remember having Gray and feeling like the most ambitious I ever was when I sat in that hospital bed, because I know what it’s all for. Now I’ve got this living, breathing, human being that’s going to rely on me. And so I was like, get me out of this bed. I’ve got to get back to work. But I think on the mothering thing, I’m really honest, I talk, I think about myself as a three-hour mum.  I’m great for about three hours, and after that, I’m kind of over it. I’m ready to do my own thing. And that’s just my choice, and that’s just the way that I feel.’

On women in business, ‘I have this theory that women spend a lot of time thinking about networking, but it’s not networking that makes you successful. It’s knowing how to use the network, knowing how to use people to your advantage. And I think men do that much more easily than women do. And I’m doing a big, sweeping, massive generalisation on purpose, because I’m trying to constantly say to people, it’s okay to ask for stuff, it’s okay to not know.

‘And women, you know, in that pursuit of kind of perfection, always feeling like you need to be the best at everything, and certainly you shouldn’t show your weaknesses or when you’re not good or you don’t know something, we try to do everything in businesses, and it’s like, No, you shouldn’t be everything. You should be the best podcaster in the world, and then you should use other people to figure out what selling of ads looks like. You wouldn’t try to light and film your own podcast any more than you should try to go out and raise the finance for it.’

Table Manners is released weekly. You can listen here.

Hollyoaks waves hello and goodbye

It’s farewell to Charlie Clapham who first played Freddie Roscoe in 2013 and stayed for four years before leaving the show. He returned to the E4 and Channel 4 Streaming saga last year but now is off again – and has already recorded his exit.

According to The Sun Freddie is ‘plotting to bring down Grace but he has no idea she’s got his brother Robbie chained up in a basement somewhere.’ This follows two affairs he’s had behind his wife Grace’s back, and that was always going to be a dangerous idea. Doesn’t he know how off the rack Grace is!?

Meanwhile, in the UK’s only true American style soap, it is a comeback for Gemma Bissix as Clare Devine. Gemma returns to the saga after a 12 year hiatus and the death of her character. It is believed her return is to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Hollyoaks.

Sam & Billie: Sister Act head to ITV2

Last week, ITV announced a special reunion for siblings Sam Faiers and Billie Shepherd in Sam & Billie: Sister Act (produced by Potato, part of ITV Studios), which comes to ITV2 later this year.

The series marks Sam’s return to TV for the first time since 2021 when she stepped away from the hit ITVBe series Sam & Billie: The Mummy Diaries. Following which, Billie continued the franchise with Billie & Greg: The Family Diaries from 2021 to 2024.

Now, the sisters reunite to showcase their personal and professional lives as they navigate the next phase of their careers, relationships and motherhood. ITV2 will now officially become the linear home of all of ITV’s best-known reality series.

Weeping City

Scotland’s creative heart stands on the brink of devastation, as stars of the beloved soap River City warn that the BBC’s decision to axe the show will deliver a “massive blow” to the nation’s arts industry.

In a poignant scene outside the Scottish Parliament, a gathering of River City’s finest — past and present — raised their voices and placards high, demanding salvation for a series that has become the lifeblood of Scottish storytelling. Inside, they watched as a motion to save the show, destined to end next year, was passionately debated.

Stephen Purdon, who has embodied the character of Bob (once the endearingly scrappy ‘Shellsuit Bob’) since the series’ inception in 2002, spoke with Reporting Scotland, issuing a heartfelt warning: without River City, Scotland risks losing a vital pipeline of talent to the unforgiving tides of an uncertain industry.

The BBC, citing shifting audience habits away from long-running dramas, announced the soap’s untimely demise last month, sending shockwaves through Scotland’s artistic community.

Among the protesting cast were familiar faces — Frank Gallagher, the unforgettable Lenny Murdoch, and Gary: Tank Commander’s Scott Fletcher — united in outrage, standing together outside Holyrood before taking their seats to hear Labour MSP Neil Bibby champion their cause.

Purdon, now the sole surviving original cast member, spoke not only of what the show means to audiences but of the vital opportunities it nurtures behind the scenes. He hailed River City’s training academy — a lifeline for aspiring industry talent, offering classes and workshops to those who otherwise might never find a way in.

“It’s the only Scottish show that endures year after year,” he said, his voice steady but charged with emotion. “And it’s not just what you see on the screen. It’s the unseen work — the academy, the chance for someone without connections to find their place in our industry. Without River City, that door slams shut.”

I wrote that as dramatic as a River City scene. The show airs twice a week on BBC One Scotland and BBC Scotland (Channel) this despite the fact it always ends (and has done for a long time) with a ‘Next Week’ caption WTF is that about, lapse, unnoticed? Or does no one at the BBC really care?

A GIANT of a production

The West End transfer of The Royal Court Theatre’s production of GIANT, the award-winning debut play from Mark Rosenblatt directed by Nicholas Hytner (Straight Line Crazy, La Belle Sauvage) and designed by Bob Crowley opened this week.

Winner of three Olivier Awards, which premiered at the Royal Court in September 2024, will run for 14 weeks only at the Harold Pinter Theatre, opening yesterday (26 April) through to the 2 August 2025.

John Lithgow stars as Roald Dahl with Aya Cash making her West End debut as US Publisher Jessie Stone, Elliot Levey reprises his role as Tom Maschler, Rachael Stirling returns as Felicity Crosland, and completing the cast is Tessa Bonham Jones as Hallie and Richard Hope as Wally Saunders.

A world-famous children’s author under threat. A battle of wills in the wake of scandal. And one chance to make amends… It’s the summer of 1983, The Witches is about to hit the shelves and Roald Dahl is making last-minute edits.  But the outcry at his recent, explicitly antisemitic article won’t die down.

Across a single afternoon at his family home, and rocked by an unexpectedly explosive confrontation, Dahl is forced to choose: make a public apology or risk his name and reputation. Inspired by real events, GIANT explores with dark humour the difference between considered opinion and dangerous rhetoric offering a complicated portrait of a fiendishly charismatic icon.

First, we live. Then we die. And then . . . we get another try? 

Sticking with theatre a reading of new musical Reincarnation Blues, adapted from the cult-hit fantasy novel by Michael Poore was staged on Thursday 24th April at The Other Palace Studio space.

The reading starred Broadway performer Noah Ricketts, Carly Bawden  and Wendy Mae Brown, amongst others. Featuring a score by acclaimed touring musicians Ben Thornewill  and Coyle Girelli, Reincarnation Blues is a fantastically whimsical, mystical, comical and deeply human tale of a soul who is reincarnated through 10,000 lifetimes to be with his one true love: Death herself.

The musical is currently being developed for future stage productions in New York and London. Originally developed in part at the 2023 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Reincarnation Blues also became a 2024 Semi-Finalist for the O’Neill National Music Theater Conference and recently played a concert in New York on 31 March at Drom (85 Avenue A).

For more information on future performances keep an eye on: https://www.reincarnationbluesmusical.com/ 

Celebrities to become Traitors

The Mirror reports that comedians Bob Mortimer and Alan Carr and former child star Charlotte Church will ‘lead the stars’ of Celebrity Traitors.

“There will be a huge mix of personalities – and ego sizes. Seeing how it all works out is going to be fascinating. The team making the show are expecting it to be quite different to the regular version because the celebrities will be less motivated by the prize fund but care far more about how they come across. It will be really interesting to see how the gameplay compares, along with which tactics they employ. Hopefully one thing that will remain the same is that it will be a lot of fun to watch.” an insider told the newspaper

Other names reported as featuring in the BBC One series include Kate Garraway, Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry, Tom Daley and Celia Imrie.

Spooky Theatricals

The full 2025 cast for the UK tour of the critically acclaimed, smash hit, supernatural thriller 2:22 – A Ghost Story. Joining the previously announced Kevin Clifton and Stacey Dooley is Grant Kilburn as Ben and Shvorne Marks in the role of Lauren. Kilburn returns to the role having understudied on the 2023 tour and the 2023 Apollo Theatre West End season covering for Ricky Champ and Clifford Samuel.

2:22 A Ghost Story will embark on an extensive UK-wide tour, opening at Manchester Opera House on 4 August 2025, and continuing through to November 2025. There will be a second leg of the tour running from 8 January – 20 June 2026, with casting to be announced.

In 2023/24 2:22 – A Ghost Story embarked on its first extensive, hugely successful UK tour. For 2025/26 the production is back on the road revisiting some cities due to popular demand and also visiting new places where audiences can enjoy the thrill the show delivers for the very first time… What do you believe? And do you dare discover the truth?

Tickets: 222aghoststory.com/uk-tour-tickets/

Dyer Decision

Danny Dyer has spoken about quitting EastEnders after nearly a decade due to the direction the story was going with his on-screen family.

“The new producer came in and he didn’t like the Carters so he started to sack people, my son [Lee Carter, played by Danny Hatchard], my daughter [Nancy Carter, played by Maddy Hill]… They’ve still got Kellie Bright in it, who played my wife Linda Carter, but then what they done was they split me up with Kellie and they put me with Janine. So when the producers said to me, ‘You’re going to be with Janine,’ I went, ‘Janine? But she murders people.’

“I thought, ‘Oh no, if I stay too long, she’ll kill me.’ So I thought, ‘I’ve got to get out,’ so basically I went in the sea and I was never found again.”

Danny’s character of Mick was, despite the producer not being a fan, a viewer favourite alongside his marriage to Linda. Danny has no hard feelings however and has said he is open to the idea of going back to the BBC Elstree produced saga.

“Listen, if it all goes t**s up, then I’ll turn up in the pub with seaweed all over me.”

Danny was speaking on ITV’s new series The Assembly, catch up with it now on ITVX or the STV Player

Other things

Somethings I’m pondering as we come to the end of this week’s issue. Britain’s Got Talent. A child withdrew from the live show this weekend, which reminds me of something Bruce Forsyth said years ago – why not have a BGT children’s version? In this age of ITV being the bastion of human wellbeing, surely, it’s time to not put the youngsters up against adults. I know in the 1970s that was a practical requirement at the BBC, off-air in dressing rooms, but we’ve moved on.

Also, Laurence Fox, a man who just looks like – in my humble opinion – he could stink of urine from 100 yards away, has denied sharing a compromising photo of TV star Narinder Kaur on social media. The actor-turned-politician is alleged to have shared a compromising image in a tweet posted in April 2024 of Kaur, who appears regularly on Good Morning Britain and has previously appeared on GB News.

Fox is charged with two counts under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday. He pleaded not guilty to both charges. He will appear at Woolwich Crown Court for a pre-trial hearing on 23 May. He was dismissed from GB News after an on-air rant about journalist Ava Evans. Nothing classy about our Lozza, but maybe we’ll start a whip-round so he can buy some shower gel.

Celebrity RIPs

Leaving the star departure area this week…

The world of rock and roll has lost one of its true architects. Legendary producer Roy Thomas Baker — the visionary mind behind some of music’s most iconic anthems — has died at the age of 78.

Baker passed away on April 12, a titan of the recording studio, Baker’s fingerprints are etched into the soundscape of generations. His masterful production shaped the music of Queen, Journey, Foreigner, Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe, The Cars, Devo, Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, and countless others — an extraordinary roster of rock royalty that defined an era.

His journey into music legend began humbly at London’s Decca Studios, where, under the name Roy Baker, he honed his craft as a secondary engineer. There, he worked alongside titans like David Bowie, The Who, and The Rolling Stones, laying the foundation for a career that would soon set the world ablaze with sound.

Also Australian actor Gerard Kennedy died aged 93. The performer was best known for his parts in a number of soap operas down under – including Neighbours, Prisoner: Cell Block H and Blue Heelers.

The views expressed are of Joanna Gumley and not ATV Today. Penelope Teeth, Judi Dentures and Joanna Gumley are ATV’s exclusive showbiz drag queens with bite.