Coronation Street actress Maggie Jones passes away

Source: The Sun

She was best known for her role as battleaxe, Blance Hunt in Coronation Street but earlier today, Maggie Jones passed away in hospital aged 75.

Jones was battling an illness where she was rushed into hospital in October for life-saving surgery. It was announced that after the operation she was making a good recovery and progress was positive.

She first appeared in the long running soap 35 years ago but was not a regular fixture. After making a few guest appearances, the producers decided to give her a permanent position in 1999. Since then she has been loved by millions due to her whit, comic timing and old-fashioned humour. Her quick tongue also won her awards for the best comedy performance at the British Soap Awards in 2005 and 2008.

Jones was written out of the show when she was rushed into hospital and Corrie producers will in the future, be deciding how to write her out of the show for good.

She has also made appearances in Dalziel and Pascoe, Heartbeat and Peak Practice.

Question Time attracts record audience.

BBC One’s political debate show Question Time attracted its highest audience in the 30 years it has been running last night.

Question Time proves popular. Source: BBC

The hour long show, broadcast between 10:35 and 11:35 featured the leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin. There has been much debate regarding his appearance and anti-fascist protestors gathered outside Television Centre last night ahead of his arrival.

It was always going to be a controversial show but with a record audience of just under eight million viewers and a 52 per cent audience share, it was the third most watched show of the evening. The top honours last night went to BBC One soap EastEnders which beat Coronation Street for the sixth consecutive Thursday. The London based show attracted 8.7 million viewers against 7.9 million for the ITV rival.

Question Time normally attracts around 2-3 million viewers on a normal Thursday night transmission so last nights ratings show a huge increase. I just cannot see the ratings being as high next week, but with Jacqui Smith of the panel I could be surprised.

Charity’s return a success

Source: The Sun

Emma Atkins’ return to Emmerdale last night was a success for the ITV rural soap.

Atkins, who plays Charity Dingle was seen last night returning in a shock wedding plot. The two episodes, broadcast at 7pm and 8pm attracted 6.8 and 7.7 million viewers respectively. The shows highest rating since February. However it was not enough to be placed as the top watched show of the day. That honour went to BBC One’s EastEnders. London Mayor, Boris Johnson’s cameo attracted 8 million just ahead of Coronation Street that appealed to 7.8 million.

The Bill however performed well last night with 4.2 million in the 9pm slot. Ratings are slowly rising for the police drama that has been struggling since it moved to the later time.

Emmerdale continues tonight at 7pm on ITV1 and if you missed it last night you can catch up on ITV Player.

Twenty-five and live

I know what you are probably all thinking, not more soap news. This news, although rather old now should be made aware because it is something that has the potential to be brilliant or go horribly wrong.

Does anybody remember when Coronation Street celebrated their 40th anniversary? They broadcast a 30 minute episode live. Well next year EastEnders will be 25 years old and to commemorate this achievment, executive producer, Diederick Santer has confirmed that the BBC soap will be doing exactly the same thing.

During the third week in February next year, a week long set of episode will be broadcast to celebrate the 25 years of gritty drama we all know and enjoy in our millions. The week will round off on 19 February with a 30 minute episode which will transmit live from the BBC studios at Elstree in Hertfordshire. The storylines for that week have yet to be announced but Santer has promised fans the high drama they are used to and then some.

Suspicion is now mounting over the possibility of cast members returning for the celebrations. The favourite to return is Ross Kemp (Grant Mitchell) with Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie (Kat and Alfie Moon) just ahead of Letitia Dean (Sharon Watts). One thing is for sure though, Lauren Crace (Danielle Jones) will not be returning. She is definitely dead, six feet under.

The live show sounds like a very good idea and will undoubtedly take a lot of planning. If they pull it off, it could be one of the television events of the year!

Who would you like to see return for the live episode? Vote below

Apprentice Fired Candidate Number One

Anita Shah

(Source: Mirror)

 

 

The Apprentice returned with its highest opening audience ever. The show which saw Sir Alan set the teams a cleaning task pulled in 8.1 million viewers throughout the 9pm hour. It was the second most watched show of the day narrowly missing out to Coronation Street that averaged 8.9 million between 7:30 and 8:00.

BBC Wins big at TRIC awards

The BBC swept the board at the TRIC awards last night (Source: thesun.co.uk)

The BBC was top dog at the Television and Radio Industries (TRIC) awards last night.

EastEnders defeated rivals Hollyoaks, Coronation Street and Emmerdale for the best soap prize. Coronation Street did not go home empty handed however with Katherine Kelly winning the best soap personality prize for her portrayal as Becky Granger.

Katherine Kelly took a TRIC award back to Weatherfield (Source: truckfest.co.uk)

Other wins for the Beeb included, Strictly Come Dancing which picked up the gong for best TV reality show and Antiques Roadshow went away with the best arts/documentary gong.

Gavin and Stacey picked up the gong for best satellite/digital programme.

BBC Drama also did extremely well, Lark Rise To Candleford went away with the best TV drama prize and New Tricks won an award for best crime programme.

Completing the BBC’s winnings were Top Gear, Have I Got News For You, Gary Linekar and BBC Breakfast weather girl Carol Kirkwood.

ITV1′s Loose Women won the award for best daytime show and Trevor McDonald was named best newscaster. 

Sky News anchor Eamonn Holmes also won an awards and Alan Carr was recognised and TV personality of the year.

In the radio categories, Johnny Vaughan was the big winner along with his breakfast show on Capital Radio, which he co-presents with Lisa Snowdon.