News about Johnny Vegas

The telly favourite looked completely unrecognisable as she took on a new role in Channel 4's new horror-comedy series Generation Z. The British actress, 80, was worlds away from her The Royle Family matriarch Barbara Royle as she took on the role of a zombie called Cecily in the upcoming six-part show. The synopsis reads: 'Flesh-eating baby boomers get a taste for teenagers in Ben Wheatley's darkly comic, outlandishly gory, zombie-horror satire.'

BBC fans have voiced their joy after it was revealed that a popular 2000s sitcom was arriving on iPlayer, after it ended 13 years ago. Dark comedy Ideal starred comedian Johnny Vegas as a small-time cannabis dealer called Moz, and revolved around the eccentric characters who visit his Salford flat to buy drugs. The show was created by Graham Duff - who also starred in the show as Brian - and debuted in 2005, airing for seven seasons before being cancelled in 2011.

From Wolf Hall's long-awaited final act to a riotous Jilly Cooper romp, these are the upcoming television treats you won't want to miss. Our expert has rounded up the 20 most exciting dramas, thrillers, comedy and true crime shows coming to screens this autumn. So if you're going to be after something new to watch as the nights draw in, look no further...

Olympic BBC commentator Craig Heap has once again been hilariously mistaken for comic Johnny Vegas due to their remarkably similar Lancashire accents. Great Britain's Bryony Page bagged an Olympic gold as she leaped to victory today in the women's trampolining. Whilst she crying with joy when her 56.480 was confirmed at the Bercy Arena, commentator Craig Heap also struck gold with viewers at home. The audience, who eagerly watching on to see if Bryony would finally complete her medal collection, were left in stiches at Heap's strikingly similar accent to British comedy legend Johnny Vegas.

After 29 days of tension and torment for the family of Jay Slater, a body has been found in the remote mountainous region of Tenerife where he disappeared. Shortly after midday yesterday, Spanish authorities on the island released a brief statement confirming that 'agents belonging to the Civil Guard' had discovered the remains of a young man. While police have stressed they are awaiting official identification, the Mail understands that this is little more than a formality.

Jay Slater was last seen as he set out to walk from Masca, a village in the northwest of the Canary Island, to where he had been staying in Los Cristianos in the south. It was a trip that would have taken about 11 hours on foot over rugged terrain. Twenty-nine days after Slater vanished, police discovered a body believed to be Slater. The teen's possessions and clothing were found near the remains. The investigation into the disappearance of Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, in Lancashire, has been dominated by unanswered questions and wild conspiracy theories. Now, MailOnline has unpacked six key questions that the community is asking about the high-profile missing persons case.

The Airbnb where Jay Slater stayed before vanishing has been relisted for tourists to rent - and has already been booked up. The £40-a-night two-bedroom cottage is in the village of Masca around 19 miles from Playa de las Americas, Tenerife. Raver Jay is known to have gone back to the remote cottage - called Casa Abuela Tina, meaning Grandma Tina's house - at 5am on the day he vanished on June 17. He left the property at around 7.30am, posting two pictures from it on Snapchat , before possibly setting out to catch a bus back towards his holiday apartment elsewhere on the island. Jay was last seen walking uphill and made a final call to friend Lucy Law to say he was lost, that his phone was almost out of battery, and that he needed water.

Jay Slater refused a lift from a 'new pal' minutes before he went missing in Tenerife because he was in too much of a rush to get home, it is claimed. The apprentice bricklayer had been in the company of convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim in the early hours of June 17 - the day he disappeared on the Spanish island - having met him at a club the night before. Qassim, 31, who was one of the last people to see Jay before he vanished, told MailOnline earlier this week had invited the Lancashire teenager back to his £40-a-night AirBnB rental in Masca. Now TV sleuth Mark Williams-Thomas says he has interviewed Qassim, who posted a video of himself on Instagram sitting on the same mosaic style doorstep where Jay sent his final Snapchat image on June 17, and gathered new information. The investigator told MailOnine that Qassim claimed to have had offered Jay a lift back to his hotel in the morning, but was turned down as the missing teenager was hungry and unwilling to wait.

There's the sound of heavy breathing and branches snapping underfoot. And then he emerges from the thicket, his head dripping with sweat. Christopher Pennington, a former British military serviceman, is now leading the search in Tenerife for missing teenager Jay Slater. When the Spanish police announced a week ago that they were ending their unfruitful search for Slater, Chris was left in disbelief. A 19-year-old boy had gone missing, his family were devastated and the world wanted answers. And yet, the local authorities had decided - after less than two weeks - to throw in the towel.

EXCLUSIVE: Qassim, 31, was one of the last people to see missing apprentice bricklayer Jay,19, along with another British man who he has refused to identify. Earlier this week MailOnline tracked Qassim down to his east London home after we established he had booked the £40 a night Airbnb in Masca on the Spanish island of Tenerife. This was where Jay headed to following an after party at Papagayo nightclub on the infamous Veronicas Strip in the raucous Playa de las Americas resort popular with British holidaymakers.

EXCLUSIVE: Ayub Qassim, 31, was tracked down last week and said apprentice bricklayer Jay, 19, 'arrived alive and left alive' at the apartment following an end of festival after party. But now TV sleuth Mark Williams-Thomas has told MailOnline he has also interviewed Qassim and coaxed out more details from him to flesh out the mystery which include him confirm the nickname Johnny Vegas is his. Jay has not been seen since June 17 when he left the AirBnB in the village of Masca, an hour from the heady party resort of Playa de las Americas in the south of Tenerife. He was driven away by Qassim and another man - who have been deemed 'irrelevant' by Spanish police investigating the disappearance - and which has left Jay's family 'baffled'.

Jay Slater found himself at a remote Airbnb with two older men as 'all his friends left him', the Briton at the centre of the mystery said today. Ayub Qassim invited Jay, 19, back to his rented holiday cottage after a rave in Tenerife hours before he vanished on June 17. Today he broke his silence and told MailOnline: 'He came to my Airbnb alive and he left my Airbnb alive.' Qassim, 31, was jailed nine years ago for being the mastermind behind a sophisticated operation to flood Wales with Class A drugs. He booked the £40-a-night holiday rental online under the name Ayub Abdul. Spanish police hunting for Jay have already spoken to Qassim and the unnamed friend he was travelling with known only as ' Johnny Vegas'. Yet former murder detective Peter Bleksley said Spanish police ruled the duo out too early. He suggested Tenerife cops may be afraid a proper investigation would hit tourism on the island.

The man, using the name Ayub Abdul, booked the £40-a-night holiday rental online - and later hosted missing Jay at the holiday let in Tenerife just hours before he vanished. Spanish police hunting for Jay have already spoken to Mr Abdul and his unnamed friend - and both men have described as 'irrelevant' to their investigation. Jay is known to have gone back to the remote cottage - called Casa Abuela Tina - sometime between 3am and 6am on the day he vanished on June 17. But he is known to have left the property at around 7.30am to catch a bus back towards his holiday apartment. A witness said he asked her when the next bus was. When she told him the next one wasn't until 10am, he is believed to have attempted to walk the 11 hours it would have taken him to get back to his holiday let.

The 19-year-old went back to the remote cottage in the village of Masca with two mystery British men in the early hours of Monday morning after a rave in Playa de las Americas on June 17. Jay, from from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, left the £40-a-night two bedroom property called Casa Abuela Tina at 7.30am and posted two pictures from it on Snapchat. Police on Sunday dramatically called off their search for the British holidaymaker. But now in a new development, they sent two plain-clothes officers to the property at 11am today. As one of the officers left the property today, he told MailOnline 'I'm afraid I can't tell you anything about the investigation or our search inside. If you want any details, speak to headquarters, I'm not allowed to talk to you. My colleague and I are from the judicial police and carrying out our own work.'

The family has vowed to continue the search themselves after being left 'disappointed' by a call for volunteers which saw just six people turn out to look for the teenager over the weekend. Mr Slater has been missing since June 17, when he went to a rave with friends before travelling across the island to stay with two fellow Britons, where he was tagged in a social media post in the early hours. Just hours later he phoned a friend, Lucy Mae, and told her he was lost in the mountains with no water and low phone battery. He has not been heard from since. After no sign of the teenager was found, Spanish police said on Sunday: 'The search operation is over. Yesterday was the final day of the search.'

The hunt for missing teenager Jay Slater descended into farce yesterday as Spanish police called an abrupt halt to their search of the remote national park where he vanished exactly two weeks ago. News of the shock development emerged after rescue teams failed to turn up for duty at the mountain restaurant where they have been assembling daily at around 9am. 'The search is now over but the investigation remains open,' a police spokesman said. 'My understanding is that Jay's parents have been informed.' Jay's mother Debbie was, in fact, unaware of the news until the Mail passed on details. Just 24 hours earlier, the same police, Tenerife's Guarda Civil, had been playing a very different tune.

Apprentice bricklayer Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has not been seen since he went back to an Airbnb near the remote village of Masca with two men following a night out on the infamous Veronicas strip in Playa de las Americas. He was last seen near the rugged Rural de Teno Park on the morning of June 17 and a huge search involving dogs, drones and a helicopter around the area where his phone last pinged has failed to find any trace. On Saturday, police launched one final push and appealed for an army of volunteers to help but just six people turned up to join 24 mountain rescue and fire teams in the Masca valley. In a dramatic update on Sunday morning, a spokesperson for Tenerife police said: 'The search is now over but the investigation remains open.' They refused to elaborate on whether it was now a criminal investigation. Family friend Rachel Hargreaves, whose son Brad was partying with Jay at the three-day NRG festival in Tenerife, told MailOnline today: 'No one is leaving until we find Jay... We stay and we do what we need to do. Nothing has changed. We will continue to search for him.'

Volunteers who have joined the desperate hunt for Jay Slater in Tenerife have vowed not to give up looking for the missing British teenager as Spanish police today officially ended their search after almost two weeks. Apprentice bricklayer Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has not been seen since June 17 he went back to an Airbnb near the remote village of Masca with two men following a night out on the infamous Veronicas strip in the Playa de las Americas resort. He was last seen near the rugged Rural de Teno Park on June 17 and a huge search involving dogs, drones and a helicopter has failed to find any trace. On Saturday, police launched one final push and appealed for an army of volunteers to help but just six people turned up to join 24 mountain rescue and fire teams in the Masca valley. In a dramatic update on Sunday morning, a spokesperson for Tenerife police said: 'The search is now over but the investigation remains open.' The spokesperson refused to elaborate on whether it was now a criminal investigation.

Apprentice bricklayer Jay, 19, was last seen on June 17 and a huge search involving dogs, drones and a helicopter has failed to find any trace. On Saturday police launched one final push and appealed for volunteers to help and just six turned up to join 24 mountain rescue and fire teams at Masca. A spokesperson for Tenerife police said: 'The search is now over but the investigation remains open.' The spokesperson refused to elaborate on whether it was now a criminal investigation.

'It's a bit disappointing that there are no British apart from [British TikTok mountaineer] Paul [Arnott] but I suppose to them he's just a British lad who's come out here and got drunk,' Warren Slater, 58, said. Slater said he was 'grateful' to those who gathered today to look for his son, an apprentice bricklayer last seen following an after party at the end of a three day festival on the Spanish party island on June 17.

The Apprentice bricklayer was last seen following an after party at the end of a three-day festival on the Spanish party island of Tenerife on June 17. Despite a massive search involving dogs, drones, helicopters and mountain rescue teams there has been no trace of Jay and fears are growing for his safety. Today his father Warren, 58, and brother Zak, 24 arrived to speak with search teams who had combed the rugged terrain above the village of Masca, an hour from Playa de las Americas in 23C heat. It came after the local Tenerife police chief had asked for volunteers to help comb the unforgiving rocky terrain but only six people signed up for the search with the rest being emergency teams. They included Tik Tok mountaineer Paul Arnott, 29, who has been helping the family, a German couple and four local Spaniards.

Investigators have now confirmed the two mystery men who invited him back to their Airbnb hours before he vanished  'don't have any relevance whatsoever for the case'. The latest twist comes after a private investigator previously called the men 'key witnesses' in the case.However little is known about the men, who have not spoken publicly, besides the fact that they are British, black and in their late 30s to early 40s. One is said to go by the nickname Johnny Vegas and one is described as around 6ft, stocky and with short dark hair. He was seen with an orange wristband but little else is known about the other man.

Jay Slater was invited back to the Airbnb of two mysterious British men in the early hours on Monday June 17 after spending the night at a rave Papagayo Beach. After spending some time at the property (right) located just outside the village of Masca on the side of a mountain in the Rural de Teno national park, some 20 miles away, he left at 7.30am to catch a bus back to his apartment. After missing a bus he instead apparently decided to try and walk the 11 hours it would have taken to get back. Now his family are urging the two British men he was with to come forward

You can buy almost anything on Veronica's Strip, a neon-lit parade of bars and clubs that runs parallel to the black-sand beach of Playa de las Americas. Walking through crowds of scantily-clad young Brits in the early hours of yesterday, I was assailed by street vendors offering ­everything from sunglasses and jewellery to ­'hashish', laughing gas balloons, 'sexy ladies' and class-A drugs. A 30-something man with the accent of a Cockney market trader was bellowing 'pills and powder' to passers-by. He meant ecstasy and cocaine, and wasn't short of takers. Leaning against cars, across the pavement from packed venues pumping out dry ice and high-decibel dance music, was the muscle: small groups of burly eastern European men, with forearms like Popeye. They kept a beady and somewhat sinister eye on proceedings.