Latest news with #HelenGeorge
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Who is in cast of Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters on ITV?
3 . Helen George Call the Midwife star Helen George is part of the cast for this ITV series. She is best known for playing Trixie on the iconic BBC show. She said: 'I was asked whether I'd be interested and my initial thought was, this sounds so mad and amazing, of course I have to say yes. And then I started thinking about what was being asked of me. I am quite scared of swimming and I started to think, is this a good idea? Let alone the sharks. But I really wanted to push myself and it sounded like such an interesting thing to be part of and something I knew nothing about, and with an amazing group around me. So it just felt like a no-brainer.' | Plimsoll Productions/ITV Photo: Plimsoll Productions/ITV
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Who is in cast of Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters on ITV?
3 . Helen George Call the Midwife star Helen George is part of the cast for this ITV series. She is best known for playing Trixie on the iconic BBC show. She said: 'I was asked whether I'd be interested and my initial thought was, this sounds so mad and amazing, of course I have to say yes. And then I started thinking about what was being asked of me. I am quite scared of swimming and I started to think, is this a good idea? Let alone the sharks. But I really wanted to push myself and it sounded like such an interesting thing to be part of and something I knew nothing about, and with an amazing group around me. So it just felt like a no-brainer.' | Plimsoll Productions/ITV Photo: Plimsoll Productions/ITV
The Sun
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Huge new ITV reality show packed with celebs TANKS in ratings – and is beaten by rerun of Death in Paradise
AMBITIOUS new reality show Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters has tanked in the ratings. The ITV programme sees stars including Helen George, Rachel Riley and Sir Lenny Henry brave man-eating animals in the waters off Bimini Island in the Bahamas. 5 5 5 But a peak of only 1.5m tuned in to watch the show's launch last week and then it scraped 1m on Monday. Instead of July 14th's launch, more viewers - ironically - watched a rerun of Death In Paradise from series 11, which first aired in 2021. The BBC's repeat of Ralf Little 's gentle crime drama drew in 1.8m during the same 9pm to 10pm time slot. And BBC2' s stroll through the evolution of man, Human, attracted 1.6m. Shark! fared no better this week either, when double - 2m - tuned in to BBC1's Fake or Fortune? antiques show. Both weeks, the most watched show of the evening was Coronation Street, with 3.3m and 3m watching respectively. It comes after David Tennant 's gameshow The Genius Game was branded an " expensive flop" after the £2.5m series drew an average audience of 661,000 by the end. In the five-part show, seven brave celebrities spent several weeks taking to dangerous waters in an effort to overcome their fears and also deliver an ecological message. The line-up also included comedians Ross Noble and Lucy Punch as well as McFly star Dougie Poynter and athlete Ade Adepitan. In the early episodes viewers have watched Helen battle with her fear of the sea after a childhood incident at an aqua park left her scared of even entering the water. Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters The actress, who plays Trixie in Call The Midwife, found even being lowered into the depths in a cage too much and begged to be released. Mum-of-two Helen, 41, said: 'I was terrified of putting my head underwater. 'I have a real deep-rooted fear. 'My kids know that I am scared of the water, and my seven-year-old is more confident in the water than I am, and I realised I've got to do something about that as it's not safe.' ITV say after seven days the first episode has now been watched by 2.8m viewers and the series has been popular with 25-54 year olds. 5 5
Daily Mail
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
A shark devoured my arm and leg - it changed my life for the better and I've even dedicated my life to protecting them in the wild
Motivational speaker and SHARK! Celebrity Infested Waters star Paul de Gelder has opened up about the moment his whole life changed when a shark devoured his arm and leg. Despite the terrifying ordeal, the 47-year-old, who has been helping the famous cast get over their fears in the brand new ITV show, now dedicates his life to protecting them in the wild. On February 11 2009, Paul was taking part in a military operation in Sydney Harbour when a bull shark attacked him. The shark managed to rip both off his hamstring and hand, and despite that, Paul managed to get himself to shore before being rushed to hospital. Recalling the moment with Metro, Paul said: 'I'm thinking, I've seen Shark Week, I'll jab it in the eye but I can't move my arm. 'I look down and my hand is trapped in the shark's mouth as well as my leg. 'I grab it by the nose, try to push it off me but it decides that I'm breakfast, thrashes me around, takes me underwater and the pain is so all encompassing it takes the fight out of me. 'I was drowning in agony, being eaten alive and I realised there was nothing I could do, so I gave up.' After a week in hospital, Paul's leg was removed, and despite the agonising ordeal caused by the predator has led him on to become a shark conservationist. This has also led him on to present a number of documentaries for Discovery Channel's Shark Week. He's also currently helping the star-studded cast of SHARK! Celebrity Infested Waters overcome their fears. Helen George, 41, Lucy Punch, 47, Ade Adepitan, 52, Rachel Riley, 39, Ross Roble, 49, Lenny Henry, 66, and Dougie Poynter, 37, are those taking part in the show. Paul said of the programme: 'The show is really touching. It has all the emotions – fear, anxiety, happiness. 'Every spectrum of human emotion is there but it has an underlying message too. It's about the plight of sharks. 'People are out there killing sharks for fun every day and by doing so it's bringing us closer to extinction. 'If the sharks die, the ocean dies and we die. 'We're trying to get celebrities and the viewers to fall in love with sharks – which, granted, is hard, because they keep biting people.' Despite that, last week the programme failed to impress viewers who branded it 'boring' and 'unwatchable' following it's first episode on Monday. The new series, which coincides with 50th anniversary of Jaws, sees a bunch of famous faces, who are terrified of the sea, face their fears head on by taking a plunge surrounded by the scary predators. C all The Midwife 's Helen George, 40, who rubbed viewers up the wrong way with her tearful and fearful reactions branded 'attention seeking' and 'annoying'. Taking to X fans fumed: 'TV execs are now so bereft of ideas that they're literally feeing celebrities to sharks for our entertainment': 'This is pretty unwatchable because there's one celebrity on there who wants the entire programme to be about "me me me"'. 'WTF is she crying for FFS. You're on a f*****g show called Celebrity Infested Waters what did she think it was, swimming with Dolphins. Seriously waits the point of this tho, boring concept for a show': 'Helen just stick to acting': 'What is the point of this sown actually?' The BBC actress, who plays nurse Trixie in Call The Midwife, previously revealed she has a lifelong phobia of the ocean. She told how she had only 'been up to her knees' in the water in the last 20 years after an incident when she was younger. Helen previously explained: 'When I was very young I was at a swimming party. I remember going underwater, looking up and foam mats had been chucked where I was coming up. I couldn't get out.' Teasing what's to come, a ITV spokesperson said: 'The show will dare a group of ocean-phobic celebrities to confront their greatest fear – sharks. 'Throughout their adrenaline-fueled, challenge-heavy journey in the Bahamas – the shark capital of the world – these A-listers will push past their limits to come nose to nose with nature's 'villains.' 'Their firsthand experiences will provide immeasurable excitement and new perspective. 'They'll come to appreciate sharks' valuable place on the food chain and in our ecosystem, recognising that a world devoid of these notoriously terrifying creatures is downright frightening. 'Those taking part will be getting up close and personal with a number of different breeds of sharks throughout filming.' Head of Factual Entertainment at Plimsoll Productions, Karen Plumb, said: 'The team at Plimsoll is uniquely positioned to pioneer this format that blends conservation with wildly entertaining pop culture. 'We're constantly looking for innovative approaches to wildlife storytelling and are certain that our fish-out-of-water spin – delivering 50 years after Jaws – will transform the world's perception of these critical predators before it's too late.' Head of Entertainment Commissioning ITV, Katie Rawcliffe, said: 'We 're super excited to be combining the work of Plimsoll - a Blue Chip natural history production company - with the expertise of ITV Entertainment.
Scotsman
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters cast: who is in ITV series?
3 . Helen George Call the Midwife star Helen George is part of the cast for this ITV series. She is best known for playing Trixie on the iconic BBC show. She said: 'I was asked whether I'd be interested and my initial thought was, this sounds so mad and amazing, of course I have to say yes. And then I started thinking about what was being asked of me. I am quite scared of swimming and I started to think, is this a good idea? Let alone the sharks. But I really wanted to push myself and it sounded like such an interesting thing to be part of and something I knew nothing about, and with an amazing group around me. So it just felt like a no-brainer.' | Plimsoll Productions/ITV Photo: Plimsoll Productions/ITV
