Latest news with #BigBoys'
Metro
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Netflix's troubled Spice Girls TV show finally gets some good news
The Spice Girls Netflix drama we have all been waiting for has reportedly secured an acclaimed British writer to create the show. There have been little in the way of updates for the dramatisation of the girl group's – Geri Horner, Mel B, Mel C, Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham – stratospheric rise to fame after a rocky 2024. Now, however, with a 2026 Spice Girls reunion tour potentially on the cards, a TV insider has revealed Netflix has recruited Bafta-winning Big Boys creator Jack Rooke to pen the pilot celebrating three decades since their debut hit single Wannabe came out. This is a big boost for the as yet unconfirmed project with the source telling The Sun it was 'a real coup' and a 'crucial element' to get the show off the ground. The insider continued: 'He already has a relationship with Mel C, who's a huge fan of his comedy Big Boys, and that could be the pivotal connection that takes things on to the next stage. 'Of course, Netflix has yet to confirm it has commissioned the show and there's still a lot to play for. But there now seems to be a genuine will to make things happen. 'No matter what Jack comes up with, it will be a loving and funny look at the band he grew up listening to in the Nineties and Noughties.' Jack's widely-praised semi-autobiographical comedy, Big Boys, came to a triumphant end this year with a third and final season, making him one of the biggest rising stars writing British TV right now. And his show is well-known for its effortless and well-informed pop culture references which would no doubt be imbued into any show he made about the beloved 90s girl group. In an interview with Variety in April he confirmed he was working on a pilot for Netflix UK which he couldn't say much about. '[It has] some of the hallmarks of Big Boys' while perhaps leaning more on the drama-comedy, he teased. Netflix has already proven the viewers' appetite for all things Spice Girls after the huge love for Posh Spice's involvement in her husband David's documentary which drew in huge figures for the platform. So much so that Victoria is getting her own documentary on Netflix, which will cover her life 'from Spice Girls superstardom in the '90s to modern fashion maven' 'Her Posh Spice days may be behind her, but today Beckham is on a journey to build a fashion empire — and now, fans will be able to see the story behind it all,' the synopsis added. More Trending As for the rumoured world tour, insiders have said that apparently Geri Horner had been difficult to pin down for a while but was now coming with 'a myriad of ideas'. Sadly, they also added that Victoria is '90% out of the running'. 'Unfortunately, Victoria has pretty much ruled herself out, but there is still a world in which she could do some sort of avatar appearance or a special one-off thing,' the source added. Metro has reached out to Netflix for comment. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. View More »
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Michigan Big Boy opens 'Dolly's' in 2 closed Frisch's amid lawsuit, embraces tartar sauce
Well, Hello Dolly! Southfield, Michigan-based Big Boy Restaurant Group said it would begin this week the reopening of former Frisch's Big Boys under a 'working title' name of 'Dolly's Burgers & Shakes,' but with some very familiar-looking items on the menu like 'Big Boy' hamburgers – tweaked to suit local tastes. 'Dolly's will serve up all of the familiar flavors its parent company is known for when the restaurant chain opens its doors and drive-through windows to guests in Blue Ash and Anderson Township,' said Big Boy's CEO Tamer Afr, in a statement. As Big Boy fights with Frisch's Big Boy over rights to using the 'Big Boy' name in Cincinnati, the new diner concept is named after the mascot's girlfriend, Dolly, in comic books once published by the restaurant chain. Two Dolly's restaurants will open this week: On Monday, at 9070 Plainfield Road in Blue Ash, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily On Tuesday, at 7706 Beechmont Ave. in Anderson Township, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily The new restaurants feature a breakfast bar from 7 to 11 a.m. on weekdays and 8 to 10 a.m. on weekends. They also have a weekly seafood buffet from 4 to 9 p.m. on Fridays through Easter. The battle over the 'Big Boy' name began in February after Frisch's filed a lawsuit against Big Boy, accusing it of violating its 'exclusive' rights to the brand throughout most of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee. The fight comes after the shuttering of more than 60 Frisch's diners amid a lease dispute with its former landlord, Orlando-based NNN Reit, which evicted the previous operator, saying Frisch's owed it more than $4.5 million in back rent. Frisch's, which had more than 80 locations in three states in early 2024, now has just over 30. While Big Boy vowed in February to 'vigorously defend' itself in the ongoing legal battle with Frisch's, Afr conceded one critical issue to local customers, regarding tartar sauce: 'We know that the white sauce is the right sauce for our signature burgers in Cincinnati,' he said, alluding to the fact that Big Boys served elsewhere have may 'Big Boy sauce' (similar to Thousand Island dressing). To prove it, Dolly's will give away free 'Big Boys' sandwiches to the first 50 drive-through guests, starting at 11 a.m. on the first day at each of the new restaurants. And starting at 2 p.m., it will also give out free signature burgers to the first 150 dine-in or carry-out guests. Big Boy acknowledged the ongoing court fight wasn't 'ideal' for its debut in Cincinnati − Dolly's signage, uniforms and other materials are still in production and won't adorn the restaurants for their opening. But the company said it would press on and 'defend its legal rights.' 'If you don't see a sign, you should still get in line,' Big Boy beckoned. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Big Boy opens Dolly's Burgers & Shakes in 2 closed Frisch's
The Guardian
09-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Big Boys series three review – sitcoms don't get more moving than this
The last episode of Big Boys finished on a note of almost transcendent devastation. From the very beginning, this tale of male bonding and sexual expedition – inspired by the comedian Jack Rooke's university days – existed in the shadow of grief. The first thing we learn about Jack, our semi-fictional protagonist, is that his dad, Laurie, died when Jack was a teenager. Loss hovered over the show's chronicle of the sensitive, sheltered Jack's student scrapes, as he formed an unlikely friendship with his laddish, socially assured roommate Danny while struggling to find his feet in Brent uni's gay scene. Yet it wasn't until the final instalment of series two that we were thrown headlong into Jack's grief. When his motormouth cousin Shannon goes into labour with her first child, the family are transported, physically and psychologically, back to the place where Laurie died. By intercutting the farcical birth scene – inappropriate midwives, urgent demands for Peperami Firesticks – with gut-wrenching flashbacks to Laurie's final days, Big Boys was able to do what it does best: splice ferocious sadness with snippets of sweet, mildly profane comic relief, and capture life at its most precious and prosaic. But Jack's bereavement was not Big Boys' only framing device. The sitcom's matey vibe disguised an elaborately meta concept: Jack, you see, has been split in two. On screen, he is played with dozy innocence by Derry Girls' Dylan Llewellyn, while the sparkier Rooke takes on voiceover duties, narrating the action as an older version of Llewellyn's imaginary Jack and as the writer's real-world self. But there's more: Rooke is addressing this trip down memory lane exclusively to Danny (Jon Pointing), who, we discover, struggles with depression. Why? It seems to be connected to the fact that Danny's real-life counterpart, Olly – Rooke's friend from his stint at the University of Westminster – killed himself a few years after graduation. So it's with a sense of needling dread that the third and final series of Big Boys kicks off. Initially, however, that specific topic is pushed to the back burner as we're whisked back to a more innocent time – the summer of 2015 ('pre-Brexit, pre-Covid, pre-air fryers') – to rejoin an increasingly confident Jack and a very happy Danny, who is now loved-up with the pair's clever, kind and assertive friend Corinne (Izuka Hoyle). In the opening episodes the trio, plus Yemi (the unwaveringly hilarious Olisa Odele), their flamboyant fashion designer pal, holiday in Greece with Jack's family. They grapple with their dissertations – in keeping with the show's laudable mission to normalise gay sex, Jack's is on the mainstream media representation of homosexuality – and delve into the eye-watering world of performance poetry. Meanwhile, Rooke has a lot of fun with the 2010s setting, mining nostalgia from such epochal cultural moments as Jeremy Clarkson leaving Top Gear and that time in Celebrity Big Brother when the housemates thought David Gest had died in the next room. Big Boys is at its most gratifying when hymning this slightly dated picture of joyously ordinary British life: bingo, Tesco meal deals, Fleet services, The X Factor. Cousin Shannon – who has become the show's primary comic engine thanks to a bravura performance from Harriet Webb – is an endless font of such references (in the first episode alone, she shoehorns in Balamory and Hollyoaks Later). Occasionally, the show's warm relatability strays into sitcom cliche; storylines such as Jack getting sunburnt in Greece or his mum, Peggy (Camille Coduri), donning uncomfortable knock-off shapewear that makes her behave strangely on a date feel very familiar. But some cliches exist for a reason. Jack entering his pretentious poet era may seem like a well-worn comic trope, but the plotline is genuinely (and, in light of the disastrous literature produced, regrettably) rooted in Rooke's real life. In any case, we should luxuriate in the laughs while we can, because Big Boys soon takes a stomach-dropping tonal turn that allows the show's multiple strands – mental health, loss, friendship, the high-concept intent behind Rooke's self-referential fictionalisation of his student years – to come together. Like Danny's beloved Top Gear, Big Boys ends on a bombshell, just not quite the one you might be expecting. Pointing deserves to win major awards for his goosebump-inducingly poignant depiction of how depression can look from the outside and how it can feel from the inside. It's heartbreaking, it's beautiful, it's a valuable companion in itself: sitcoms don't get much more deep and meaningful than this. Big Boys is on Channel 4
