Mel Giedroyc immerses herself in death: best podcasts of the week
The TV historian steers a new series of her BBC podcast, bringing female scammers from the history books to life and viewing their misdeeds through a modern lens. Among them is 'Yorkshire Witch' Mary Bateman, whose fortune-telling hen (a hoax, of course) gave way to more insalubrious business practices. HJDBBC Sounds, episodes weekly
Are the robots coming for your job? Tech expert James Chandler helps 'highly average human' George Butler make sense of AI in a digestible way – from speaking with a former war zone reporter about the future of media to diving into claims that tech can translate your pets' speech. Plus, you can send in questions. Hollie Richardson
Widely available, episodes weekly
Mark Pougatch and Paul Hayward team up for this series about the meaty tales and curious mysteries that began on pitches, fields and courts. First up: how rugby helped to unite South Africa post-apartheid, and the significance of Nelson Mandela donning the Springbok shirt in 1995. HJD
Widely available, episodes weekly
This updated Sherlock Holmes series puts a 2020s spin on things ('I'm neurodiverse … prepare to be cancelled!' declares our crack detective) while remaining pleasingly in step with the source material. For this five-part arc, Holmes and Watson must unpick a blackmail plot, featuring one of Conan Doyle's most notable female characters, Irene Adler. HJD
Widely available, episodes weekly
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Wales Online
13 minutes ago
- Wales Online
Strictly Come Dancing unveils EastEnders star as fourth celebrity joining 2025 line-up
Strictly Come Dancing unveils EastEnders star as fourth celebrity joining 2025 line-up Another celebrity has joined the Strictly Come Dancing line-up as fans are set to see them compete in this year's series. Actor Balvinder Sopal has been announced as the latest star to join this year's Strictly Come Dancing line-up. The BBC star, best known for their role as Suki Panesar in EastEnders, will now be competing for the glitterball trophy, alongside the other stars who have been unveiled so far. They were announced during Tuesday's instalment of Good Morning Britain as showbiz reporter Richard Arnold shared the exciting news with ITV viewers. Announcing the news, Richard detailed the previous EastEnders stars to compete in Strictly, including Maisie Smith, Bobby Brazier, and Rose Ayling-Ellis. Speaking about competing in this year's series, Balvinder confessed she dances as a hobby and will enjoy taking part in the show. Article continues below This is a breaking showbiz story and is being constantly updated. Please refresh the page regularly to get the latest news, pictures and videos. You can also get email updates on the day's biggest stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters.
The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Where it went wrong for Jack Grealish at Man City – and how Everton can fix him
They had achieved great success together before their paths diverged. The strategist might have envied the charisma of his ally but despite their different characters, men with a shared affection for Manchester City seemed in harmony with each other in the good times. Then, suddenly, they were together again. Still, enough about Noel and Liam Gallagher. Pep Guardiola and Jack Grealish bumped into each other at Oasis's homecoming gig at Heaton Park. This, however, was a briefer reunion. They, it transpired, neither need each other nor believe in one another, not anymore. The Gallaghers may bring in a nine-figure sum for their second coming. Guardiola spent one on Grealish in 2021, though he may not recoup any of it, after leaving the player out of his squad for the Club World Cup this summer. Now the younger man is going out on loan to Everton. With two years left on his contract at City, he may have played his last game for them. And yet when City staged an open training session last week, the main attraction for many of the supporters seemed to be Grealish. They screamed for him, and he obliged, posing for photographs and signing shirts with a laidback charm. It was as if his fan club had ignored the evidence of City's last two seasons. So there are two Grealishs, the people's champion with the common touch and the injury-prone underachiever who Guardiola tired of. Everton may hope they have signed neither, but instead got a third one: Aston Villa's driving force and dribbler, a player who brought goals, assists, and excitement to a mid-table team, who had the personality to lift a big club. A different Grealish played his part in City's 2022-23 treble: the tactically disciplined player who hugged the left touchline, retained possession and took few risks. It was a persona at odds with some of his off-field antics. His hedonism may have made him a hero to those who imagined they would do likewise if they won the Champions League. Some would date the beginning of the end of his City career to what appeared to be an epic bender in Ibiza in 2023. Those of a City persuasion who will mourn his departure include some staff who recognised how helpful a popular figure he was with his willingness to meet fans and his easy bond with them. Yet his profile became far greater than his contribution. Grealish started one league game in 2025. He has scored one league goal since 2023. He has begun 17 league matches in two seasons. It isn't much for a £100m transfer fee and wages of £300,000 a week. There are tactical elements to how Guardiola has seemingly moved on from Grealish to different types of wingers, such as Jeremy Doku, the relentless dribbler, and Omar Marmoush, the roadrunner. There is the question of how a manager who prefers to operate with a smaller squad incorporates everyone after making 10 signings in 2025, and when some, such as Marmoush and Rayan Cherki, can play in similar positions to Phil Foden. There is the succession to Kevin de Bruyne and it is notable that Guardiola decided Grealish had no part in it. While he had a two-game audition in a deeper role in December, against Nottingham Forest, Guardiola has since signed Nico Gonzalez, Tijjani Reijnders and Cherki. He has rarely seen Grealish in a central role. But as City look for a new winning blend, the common denominator is that the candidates have to show the productivity Grealish lacked. His four years at City produced just 12 league goals and a dozen assists. He functioned in the treble-winning team because others delivered more (in that squad, Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez all scored considerably more without figuring in Guardiola's preferred 11). If one of the reasons Guardiola turned against was a lifestyle that could have contributed to injuries interrupting his season, he still has admirers, Thomas Tuchel among them. A World Cup place could seem the carrot for Grealish. David Moyes could be a fine choice of manager to rejuvenate his career: he has picked up cast-offs before with some success, and Everton may see some similarities in him to Steven Pienaar. Yet one of the complications is that what Moyes really required now was a right winger. He already had compelling choices for the two positions Grealish would be likeliest to play in a 4-4-1-1 formation and two of them – Charly Alcaraz and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – have been signed this summer. Either could operate as a No 10, so could Iliman Ndiaye, who brought the flair to mean he should not be sidelined for Grealish. Ndiaye and Dwight McNeil can play on the left, and the latter does provide assists, particularly with his crossing and set-pieces. Of late, Grealish has offered rather fewer. It was partly a product of the way he evolved at City. And yet, while Grealish has described Guardiola as the best manager in the world, he may now need to forget everything the Catalan taught him, to remember the player who excelled for Dean Smith. Whatever he got up to off the pitch, Grealish became one of the duller footballers on it, when he was once among the most exciting. As Everton enter a new era in a new stadium, Grealish needs to turn back time.
Daily Mirror
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Antiques Roadshow guest kisses BBC expert after being left amazed by value of 'ugly' clock
An Antiques Roadshow guest had a two-word response to finding out how much his "dirty" clock was truly worth. WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow. An Antiques Roadshow guest was left almost speechless when he discovered the staggering value of a "filthy" timepiece his wife had branded as "ugly". The BBC daytime programme visited Cardiff to record another captivating episode, where expert Richard Price examined a visitor's ornate clock in detail. "Let me ask you then, why is it so dirty? Do you not look after it?" Price enquired. The guest confessed: "No, it lives in a box in the attic because it's so ugly." Price responded: "Really? Who banished it up there?", with the guest revealing "my wife". He explained that he had received the clock approximately five years earlier and it went "straight into the attic". Price declared: "Underneath all this filth and mess, we have the most wonderful bronze bull." During a separate interview, the guest's wife shared her thoughts on the unwanted inheritance. She remarked: "My husband inherited the clock from his uncle and when he brought it home, I wasn't impressed at all. "It was very ugly, very dirty. We didn't realise how dirty until we were told how dirty it was on the Roadshow. I thought that's the colour it was supposed to be." Also in a separate interview, the visitor revealed: "I had a feeling that the clock was going to be worth perhaps a couple of thousand pounds because it was pretty old." However, they weren't prepared for its actual worth as Price announced: "Even in this state, I think your initial offer would be in the region of £20,000. "20?" the guest queried as Price clarified: "£20,000 in the rough like this." The guest remarked: "Good heavens." Once again in the separate interview, the guest said: "When they double, triple, quadruple the value that you have in mind, it's just unbelievable." But that wasn't the end of the story as Price added that once it had been "lovingly cleaned" and restored, the price would shoot up to anywhere between £30,000 and £35,000. "Good Heavens above. My wife will never believe it," the guest replied. His wife recalled: "I said 'Oh, how did you get on?' He was quiet, awfully quiet and his lip was quivering a little bit." He told Roadshow: "And I managed to get out - blurt out - the fact that Richard Price had said 'Oh in its present state it's worth £20,000.' But when I got to the £30,000 mark, I was getting a bit too excited and a bit emotional." The pair chose to have the timepiece professionally restored afterwards, though it proved to be quite a challenge, according to specialist John Jillings. "It was obviously rather concerning, the fact that it had been stored in the loft for such a lengthy period and there may have been a touch of moisture present, but all things considered, it's survived remarkably well", he explained. "When we extracted the springs from the barrels, they were actually signed and dated by the manufacturer for February 1754. So this is thrilling, because it's another element we can utilise to date the clock quite precisely." Unveiling the "moment of truth", Jillings presented the restored golden clock, prompting the wife to exclaim: "Oh that's fantastic. Oh you've done a great job." She then approached Jillings to plant a kiss on each cheek in gratitude. "Oh it's beautiful, it really is. You would never have believed that it would have looked as good as this. No, it's absolutely marvellous. Now it's not quite so ugly."
