News about Ben Miller

Will Close is the toast of the West End after picking up a prestigious Olivier Award for playing Harry Kane in the National Theatre's hit show Dear England, which also won best new play. Picking up the best supporting actor award - whose previous winners include Eddie Redmayne , Toby Jones and Sir Patrick Stewart - the football mad Everton fan looked shocked and overwhelmed, poignantly dedicating the gong to his late mother, a lover of amateur dramatics who died during the pandemic and inspired him to act. But he also thanked the England captain himself in his speech - and revealed that while he has never met Harry, the footballer's friends came to watch the show and were bowled over by the performance. Speaking on the red carpet at the Royal Albert Hall he said: 'I had a few people who came to see it who know Harry and are friends with him who were very encouraging and complimentary, which was a relief'. Will said that he had studied Kane's intonation and his over-use of certain bland words in interviews such as 'nice' and 'obviously'. He added: 'I think that if he had been in the audience I don't think I would have been able to handle it - I would have been too nervous'. Before Dear England that he was best known for his part as Freddie in Tesco's fictional family where he played a 'boomerang child' back living with parents in his 20s in around four adverts. Ruth Jones, star of TV hits including Gavin and Stacey played his mother, and Paddington actor and comedian Ben Miller, played Close's father. In their Christmas advert they scrambled around a Tesco store looking for items for neighbours who had to have gluten free meals. Close, whose character said he didn't know what gluten free meant, returned to the trolley with a lightbulb to eat. Tesco soon dropped Freddie after a backlash. The supermarket's then brand director Michelle McEttrick admitted it was because the character was too annoying.

Anna Samson has made history as the first ever female lead detective in a brand new Death In Paradise spin-off (bottom left), which will take the beloved series for Saint Marie to a brand new bay Down Under. Return to Paradise will be set in sun-soaked Australia and follows DI Mackenzie Clarke as she solves a whole host of mysterious murders. This role will certainly be a big break in the UK for Anna (bottom centre), who previously starred in one of Australia's biggest soaps (top left), and even dated one of her co-stars (bottom right). After growing up in Nigeria and breaking into TV, the star caught the eye of BBC bosses with her stage work, impressing critics on both sides of the world.

The franchise's first female detective will be seen in Death In Paradise's brand new spin-off series, according to the BBC. In sun-soaked Australia, return to Paradise will be set, and DI Mackenzie Clarke, played by Anna Samson, will be on as she seeks to unravel a slew of unethical crimes. Following time spent with London's Metropolitan Police, she has been accused of tampering with evidence that will force her to return to her hated home down below.

This week, UK writer Kathryn Flett (left) reviews ITV's latest 'black-comedy-drama-cop-show' Passenger (right), as well as The Life And Death Of Lily Savage, which were both on ITV.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Why does Frances de la Tour not have a damehood? It isn't likely that she was a Leftie firebrand in her youth – waving the Workers' Revolutionary Party's flag. So was Dame Vanessa Redgrave, and that didn't stop her from collecting her gong from the palace. In fact, swaths of theatreland were members of the WRP in the 1970s. It was practically mandatory. Miss DLT, it turns out, prefers to keep honors. However, this won't stop her from contaminated a bona fide national treasure. In the setting of Professor T (ITV1), she shimmers like a well-cut diamond as the self-absorbed mother of Ben Miller's brilliant criminologist, Jasper Tempest.

The lead detectives in Death In Paradise were all lured by warm weather and an idyllic lifestyle, but none of the actors playing the role have stayed around long-term. Four actors have played Ben Miller, Kris Marshall, Ardal O'Hanlon, and Ralf Little in the island's 13-series run. Ralf, 44, will be the next actor to leave the show after appearing as DI Neville Parker part-way through series nine, according to rumors.

In her most well-known role, she played both a doctor and a former resident of Nonnatus House. After being stabbed, her character was taken to a mental hospital that was supposed to treat her anxiety, but her illness continued to worsene rapidly. And although Call The Midwife has been mysteriously missing since 2017, the actress appeared in a new Death In Paradise role.

Rowan Atkinson is expected to reprise one of his most well-known roles in six years for the first time in six years. According to Screen Daily, the actor, 69, will appear in his fourth Johnn English film, with filming set to begin this summer. Rowan appeared in the third Johnny English film in 2018, alongside Ben Miller and Emma Thompson.

DI Neville Parker (Ralf Little), the fourth in the show's history, was toying with the prospect of publishing a personal blog or a diary of his adventures on the sunshine island. Officer Marlon Pryce (Tahj Miles) was dismissive of the theory. 'I'd like to hear that it might be a bit of a boring fantasy,' he scoffed. 'No offence.'

Since its first episode in 2011, the crime comedy drama has been a regular fixture on British television screens. On Sunday, Death In Paradise will be back for a 13th series, as well as its 100th episode. The crew will reunite on the idyllic Caribbean island of Saint Marie and will be faced with more intriguing murders to solve. However, as detectives have been replaced on the island over the years, so have several of the other original characters. MailOnline takes a look at the series one cast members and what they're up to now.

After a long stint in Hollywood, a former EastEnders actor is expected to return to TV screens in the United Kingdom this weekend. Actor Sean Maguire, 47, will appear in the popular show Death in Paradise for the 100th episode, 13 years since he appeared in the first ever episode. On Sunday, the BBC detective series set in the Caribbean returns with a new brand new series.

Following a 13-year absence, an EastEnders legend is expected to return to screens. As part of the company's new film, the actor, 47, will reprise his role in Death In Paradise.

JANE FRYER: Early this week, as the sky darkened and the rain spattered down, I caught Lady Sara Bathurst struggling on Cirencester Park's long sweeping driveway. 'Aggh! I hate this gravel. Hate it. Hate it!' Crashes the 58-year-old counts, pedaling ferociously on her brand new £10,000 Porsche eBike before faltering to a halt in front of her Grade II-listed pile and making a few more ostensibly dismissive remarks under her breath to the trio of spaniels who are showing their love. It was certainly not the most auspicious warm-up to her three-week, 1,022-mile charity cycle challenge from Land's End to John O'Groats.

Over 800 cross-dressing men swarmed down the 40-meter-high Big Red sand dune along the Simpson Desert's edge toward the finish line in the middle of 'Bashville' - the world's largest music festival in south-west Queensland, July 4 to 6. An army of wigs, flowers, tutus, and feather boas were competing for the 'Queen of the Desert' award, which raised over $25,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Chris Hockley, a 53-year-old taciturn truck driver from Perth, Western Australia, earned the coveted gong with his ensemble of some figure-hugging kaleidoscope flares, fake eyelashes, and an outlandish heart-shaped headpiece.

In one of three changes for North Melbourne's match against Essendon, they've announced the return of troubled utility Tarryn Thomas to AFL action. Thomas' career was hanging in the balance when he was stood down by the Kangaroos for the second time in March, despite complaints about his sexual behaviour toward women. The 23-year-old returned to training last month and has appeared in three VFL games, showing his readiness for the Bombers' match at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

Ben Miller says he and Marcel Proust's In Search Of Lost Time would go to a desert island. All seven volumes have been published,' he said. 'It's about time I read it!' He also said that he distinctly remembers reading Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. "It's a bonkers tale, and I love reading it," Ben said. I just loved the ridiculousness, and this was the first time I had realised that books can be silly.'

Hotel Portofino, a sumptuously glamorous ITV1 period drama, follows a wealthy Englishman's daughter's vow to make her luxurious seaside hotel on the Italian Riviera a success. Although some of Hotel Portofino's scenes were shot in the titularly pastel-colored Italian town of the title, the bulk of the series was shot on the Croatian coast. Lucy Akhurst and Claude Scott Mitchell (left), as well as Lily Frazer, are among the cast members (right).

Blame the VHS player, Christopher Steffen. Murder cases never stretched for two hours before the 1980s, even before the 1980s' boom in home video machines. It wasn't until the introduction of Inspector Morse in 1987 that film-length episodes became common; when ITV bosses correctly predicted that, with many viewers watching shows later, two hours was not enough time. The experiment was not as fruitful. The bulk of the channel's crime serials now are 120-minute slogs, with ads included. And the majority of people don't like it.