Latest news with #DianneMorgan
Daily Mail
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Martin Lewis leaves fans open-mouthed as he makes unlikely acting debut in acclaimed BBC comedy - and things take a disastrous turn
Martin Lewis has left fans open-mouthed after making an unlikely acting debut in an acclaimed BBC comedy. The 53-year-old, who is best known for his money saving expertise, shared the new role by posting a clip on his Instagram. Mandy fans will be excited to know that Martin appeared on the most recent episode of the comedy show. The programme, which stars actress Dianne Morgan as protagonist Mandy Carter, hit our screens on Monday for its fourth season. In the scene, a woman can be seen running up to Mandy with her eyebrows high up on her forehead and screaming at her: 'You messed up my face with your Botox!' Mandy replies: 'It'll come down.' 'I want that £300 back I gave you for the treatment,' the woman tells her. And Martin appears in shot and asks: 'Do you have a receipt?' The woman shouts back: 'No. I paid cash.' Martin tells her: 'Without a receipt, it's going to be quite difficult for you to prove you've got any legitimate consumer rights. 'There's not much you can do.' She replies: 'Well there's one thing I can do, Martin...' The woman then appears to punch him in the face as the camera goes black. Martin captioned the Instagram post: 'An eyebrow-raising cameo…! Mandy BBC2 10pm tonight (Mon) for more.' Fans rushed to the comments section on Instagram to share how much they enjoyed his cameo on the show (pictured) Many rushed to the comments section to share how funny they found the clip. 'Just watched it. You were a funny surprise.' 'That's brilliant Martin any more acting on the cards.' 'Haha absolutely love that.' 'So awesome to see Martin practicing his comedic chops.' 'You've missed your calling Martin.' Appearing on This Morning on Tuesday, Martin said: 'I appeared in Mandy, I had a little cameo role and was playing a heightened version of myself. 'When I received the script, it was about consumer rights and they had it all wrong! 'They had to rewrite it.' He added: 'I was a slightly nastier version of myself.' He also confirmed that he's keen to star in some other shows in the future. Martin told viewers: 'It was very enjoyable - any more roles out there, I am available!' Mandy first hit our screens on BBC Two back in 2019. The show is written, directed and stars Dianne Morgan and there have been 26 episodes across four seasons.
Sky News
09-02-2025
- General
- Sky News
Coal tips safety: Residents say lessons 'not learned' from Aberfan disaster
Residents who live near disused coal tips in South Wales say lessons have not been learned from the Aberfan disaster nearly 60 years on. Their comments come after a disused coal tip in Cwmtillery, Blaenau Gwent, partially collapsed in November, forcing around 40 homes to be evacuated. A coal tip is made up of waste material from coal mining, many of which have existed for several decades. 1:09 Dianne Morgan, 68, has lived in the house she had built in the Cwmtillery ward for the last 10 years. She told Sky News she didn't know there was a category D tip - the most dangerous - behind her property, until the slip, which happened after heavy rainfall during Storm Bert. "All we were told was underlying mines had been there. But there was no mention of a tip when we had searches at all," she said. 'Got to be sorted' There are 2,573 disused coal tips in Wales, according to Welsh government data - the vast majority of which are in the former coal mining communities of the South Wales Valleys. Three hundred and sixty of these are in the two most dangerous categories and are monitored at least once a year as they have "the potential to impact public safety". Ms Morgan said she believes lessons have not been learned from the Aberfan disaster in 1966 when a colliery spoil tip collapsed killing 144 people, including 116 children. A build-up of water within the tip after heavy rain caused it to suddenly slide downhill as slurry. The tragedy is considered the worst mining-related disaster in British history and was more recently featured in an episode of Netflix series The Crown. "The tip's got to come down," she said, but added that the authorities "don't want to pay". "They think they'll just drag it on and on and on and then people just forget, but you're not going to forget are you? Because every time we have pouring down rain or if you hear a noise, you come out here and I have a check just in case it's something," she added. "They all talk about they're all broke, ain't we all? But that doesn't matter, it's people's lives you're dealing with and people's homes at the end of the day. "It took everything we had to build this, if that came down and wrecked this, even if I wasn't in it, we've got nothing." She said the slip before Christmas "could have been a lot worse". "Irrespective of who owns it, it's got to be sorted...'cause you don't know where it's going to come down next'," Ms Morgan said. "We've got to have a surety that this tip is going to be seen to, and not only this tip but other tips for other people that could be in the same situation that we are, especially with the rain we're having at the moment." 'Nothing getting done' Brian Preece, 77, has lived in Cwmtillery all his life. He told Sky News he "always played on the tips" as a child. "We never had one inclination from anywhere in my life that them tips was dangerous," he said. "I played on them myself, my children played on them, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren." He said that if a larger tip would have come down, his street "would have gone" and the tips needed to be taken "down to a safe level". "They've said they was going to do this, and they said they was going to do that, but there's nothing getting done and everybody's worrying now," he added. "The only safe way on my behalf, and I'm sure everybody else, is they should be dropped. "Alright, they say it's going to cost a lot of money, [but] they've got to drop it. You can't put a price on children's lives, on anybody's life, and it should be down." Get Sky News on WhatsApp Follow our channel and never miss an update. Tap here to follow Sky News has approached Blaenau Gwent Council for its response. 'Nothing has changed' In October, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £25m in the budget for the maintenance of coal tips in Wales to ensure communities are kept "safe". Meanwhile, the Welsh government has outlined proposals for a Disused Tips Authority for Wales, which would take on responsibility for coal tip safety in future. But campaigners say the money promised to tackle the issue is not enough. Stuart Adams, 65, regularly walks the tips at Bedwas and Cilfynydd. Mr Adams is part of the Clear South Wales's Coal Tips group, which is calling for action to make the tips safer. "It's ordinary people that are going to be affected if there is a disaster, or even a minor slip, which has just happened in Cwmtillery. They still cause masses of disruption for people," he told Sky News. "I'm no expert on the financial side of things, but clearly [the money's] not enough to make these places safe." Mr Adams said the tip at Cilfynydd Common collapsed in 1939 and was seen as "a precursor to an Aberfan disaster". "Luckily no one was hurt, and no one was killed [in the 1939 slip]," he added. "The same could quite easily happen again as nothing has changed with regards to the tips." 'First of its kind' legislation A Welsh government spokesperson said it had invested more than £100m in coal tip safety since 2021 "to ensure our coal tip communities are safe". "We have also introduced modern legislation - the first of its kind in the UK - to prevent disused coal and non-coal tips from being a threat to human life," they added. "The highest risk coal tips (category C and D) are regularly inspected by the Mining Remediation Authority (MRA) and we continue to work with partners across Wales to inspect sites, including additional checks during extreme weather." A spokesperson for the MRA (formerly the Coal Authority) said it continued to provide "support, expertise and advice" to the Welsh government. "We undertake an inspection programme on behalf of Welsh government and other agencies, providing recommendations for maintenance requirements," they added. "We also continue to directly manage the 26 coal tips that the Mining Remediation Authority owns in Wales and provide management services to other landowners as needed."
