TV & Film
Caroline Aherne’s life to be celebrated in Christmas special on BBC
The special will celebrate the late star’s life
Writer and actor Craig Cash says a Christmas special celebrating Caroline Aherne’s life will air over the festive period.
Good friends Aherne and Cash worked together on The Royle Family and a number of other comedies over the years, until Aherne sadly died of cancer in 2016.
Cash said the late star asked him to cover for her and record the voiceover on Gogglebox after her diagnosis.
Aherne was the first presenter for the Channel 4 programme, providing the commentary for it since the show began in 2013 until shortly before she passed away.
Cash said it was during her treatment for the disease that she turned to him for help to cover for her when she was too sick.
“She just asked me if I’d do the show for her if she was poorly and when she had to go for chemo, so of course I said yes just to help out, because I couldn’t help in any other way,” he told the BBC.
He said he still feels her ‘presence’ when he records the voiceover for the show in the studio and said the work was like ‘a gift that she left me’.
He said: “It was really lovely, because it feels like a gift she has left me and I’m very grateful.
“It felt like only natural I should keep doing it and I feel like she’s with me sometimes.
“When I go in the studio where we used to record it, I can feel her presence sometimes.
“That feels a bit weird but true.”
A Gogglebox 10 Year Anniversary Special aired this March to celebrate a great decade of TV, showing some of it best stand-out moments.
Cash and Aherne worked together on many projects over the years, including The Mrs Merton Show and The Fast Show, after they met in the 1980s.
Their work in both writing and acting on The Royle Family became their best known and loved.
Cash said the idea for The Royle Family, which was first broadcast on BBC One in 1998, was born out of an idea Aherne had while she was still working on The Mrs Merton Show.
The Stockport-born star said: “We wanted to write something that we knew and the likes of which we grew up in, as opposed to the posh middle-class families that you got on TV at that time.
“The working title was the Wythenshawe Project, because Caroline was from Wythenshawe and we set it in Wythenshawe.
“We just wanted it to be about a family like our family really and that’s what it ended up being, just sat there watching telly.”
The show went on to become a British classic and is often repeated over the festive season where families sit together and laugh at the relatable humour.
But Cash admitted that when it was first developed, ‘nobody wanted to make it, because it was just about people sat around talking drivel’.
Cash said he and Aherne ‘had to convince them’.
He continued: ” Caroline actually threatened not to do any more Mrs Merton shows if they didn’t commission it. She meant it as well.”
Though he said some executives were still not convinced.
“When we’d made it, they [still] didn’t really want to put it out,” he said.
“They were looking at and saying, ‘people will be climbing the walls’, because it’s people just sat round talking.”
Cash said he was delighted when the show found success but was shocked at how wide an audience it reached.
He said: “I thought it would only be popular in Manchester or the North-West. But I get in taxis in London and [the drivers] say, ‘it’s just like my house’.
“It turns out to be a lot of people’s real lives.”
The star said he speaks about how he still feels his friend Aherne’s presence with him in the new documentary about her life, which is due to come out this Christmas.
TV & Film
Blue Lights: Series two of gripping Northern Ireland police drama launches tonight
Can’t wait for this!
The second season of the BBC‘s hit police drama Blue Lights launches tonight.
The broadcaster previously confirmed which cast members will return as well as the fresh faces who have joined the series for new episodes.
Set in Belfast, the drama followed a batch of new constables as they navigated a post-conflict Northern Ireland.
Before the first series even came to an end, a second series had already been commissioned. The new series will follow on one year later.
Reprising her star role as Grace Ellis is Sian Brooke, also joined by Martin Mccann as Stevie Neil, Katherine Devlin as Annie Conlon, Nathan Braniff as Tommy Foster and Joanne Crawford as Helen McNally.
Also returning are Andi Osho as Sandra Cliff, Hannah McClean as Jen Robinson, Paddy Jenkins as Happy Kelly, Desmond Eastwood as Murray Canning, Andrea Irvine as Nicola Robinson, Aoibhéann McCann as Geraldine Gilroy and Abigail McGibbon as Tina McIntyre.
New cast members joining the show are Frank Blake (Sanditon) as new Constable Shane Bradley, along with Seamus O’Hara (An Irish Goodbye) as Lee Thompson, and Seána Kerslake (Bad Sisters) as his sister Mags.
As well as Craig McGinlay (Cobra) as Craig, and Dan Gordon (Bloodlands) playing Mags and Lee’s Uncle Rab.
At the end of the last season, viewers watched on as the team lost Gerry, who tragically died after being shot by Sully, and the McIntyre Crime Gang collapsed.
In new episodes the new recruits, Grace, Annie and Tommy, are now fully fledged officers who have to face new turmoil as rival gangs try to fill the void after the downfall of the McIntyre’s.
More drama is promised in season two, as the synopsis continues: “Constable Shane Bradley is drafted in to help, but his motivations are unclear. Tommy is dangerously seduced by the world of intelligence policing, while Grace struggles to deal with her son’s absence, and growing feelings for fellow officer Stevie.
“As a young loyalist threatens to take over the city, the officers face a major gangland feud – culminating in a violent and devastating confrontation.”
Commenting on the series and teasing the upcoming episodes, writers and directors Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, said: “Blue Lights is a very personal project for us, set in the city where we live, so for us making this show is a special kind of privilege.
“In series two we join our officers exactly a year after the events of series one, and now they’re facing a whole new set of professional and personal challenges. We’re very excited indeed about bringing you this next chapter of the Blue Lights story. Take a beat!”
Season one landed on screens in March 2023 and received a slew of five-star reviews as well as more than 7 million viewers (28-day figure).
It was in the top ten new drama series of 2023 across all broadcasters and streamers, and the biggest drama series in Northern Ireland in 2023. More than half of the 28-day audience (56%) came from BBC iPlayer.
And fans had high praise for the first series, with one person saying: “Just finished watching Season 1 of Blue Lights (BBC iPlayer) and it’s superb. Gripping and properly moving. Hard to believe, I know, but it’s even better than Happy Valley.”
Blue Lights series two launches on BBC One tonight, Monday April 15th, at 9pm, with the full series available on iPlayer.
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TV & Film
Viewers left baffled at ITV’s The 1% Club’s final question as contestants ‘give up’
Did you know the answer?
The latest episode of ITV’s The 1% Club issued a final question which left viewers baffled as the last two contestants ‘gave up’.
The hit entertainment quiz show which is presented by comedian Lee Mack is known for its notoriously difficult last question – which it claims only 1% of the nation can answer correctly.
After smashing through a series of questions, the last two standing contestants, Maisie and Alex, made it through to the final 1% question, where they had the chance of walking away with the £100,000 prize money or risked losing it all.
But when the question was delivered, the pair were left completely baffled as 30 seconds on the clock ticked away.
Fans watching at home said they didn’t even bother trying to answer the difficult question and were left completely stumped.
Both Maisie and Alex made the decision not to take a gamble and answer the question for a chance to walk away with the £100,000 prize money as they chose to play it safe and take their £5,000 each instead.
The question was: “Given that: 0+100 =100, 1+99 = 100, 2+98 =100, What is the sum of all the whole numbers between zero and 100?”
Maisie and Alex both guessed 5,000 – which was the wrong answer.
Contestants only have 30 seconds to lock in their answer but even allowing themselves a little longer, viewers still struggled to work it out.
The correct answer was actually 5050.
Lee explained why as he revealed the answer, saying: “There are 50 pairs that total 100 (0 and 100, one and 99, two and 98, etc.). That makes 5000, but there is also the number 50 in the middle, that is not in a pair but also needs to be counted, giving a total of 5050.”
Fans of the show who were watching at home took to X to express how difficult they found the question. One viewer said: “I still have the last question on pause, trying to work out the question… never-mind the answer.”
Another wrote: “Hard questions this week. Last week, I got all the way. First time ever this week I was out at the beginning.”
While a third added: “I didn’t even try with that one. Maths is hard enough on a calculator for me, never mind doing it in my head in 30 seconds.”
TV & Film
BBC detective drama Shetland to return for two new series
There’s plenty more in store for viewers as we head back to the Isles
Popular BBC detective drama Shetland is returning for two new series.
The long-running crime drama will return with Ashley Jensen and Alison O’Donnell reprising their roles as Detectives Ruth Calder and Alison ‘Tosh’ McIntosh.
Filming on the next season, its ninth, will get underway later this month.
The broadcaster said Shetland was the biggest drama of the year across Scotland and all channels and streamers in 2023, after Yorkshire crime drama Happy Valley.
Last season averaged seven million viewers and was the first to see Ashley Jenson take the lead role after taking over from Douglas Henshall as Jimmy Perez – a role he played for a decade.
Ms Jenson said she was ‘thrilled’ to be coming back as Detective Calder.
She said: “The reaction to the last series was incredible and I’m excited at the prospect of unravelling more intrigue.
“The Shetland Isles are breath-taking – without a doubt one of the most memorable and unique filming locations I’ve been to.”
Ms O’Donnell also expressed that she ‘could not be happier’ about returning to film another series. She added: “Ashley and I just scratched the surface of our dynamic in Series 8 and I am delighted that we now have the opportunity to build on that.”
Fans of the programme will be delighted to know Steven Robertson (Sandy), Lewis Howden (Billy) and Anne Kidd (Cora) are also confirmed to return.
Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, said the news showed the corporation was ‘further strengthening’ its commitment to the show, which first aired in 2013.
The latest series will be written by Paul Logue and Denise Paul and produced by Silverprint Pictures, with filming scheduled to take place throughout this year and next.
We can’t wait for this!
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