Latest news with #JillyCooper
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Danny Dyer struggled to ditch ‘hardman' persona before sitcom Mr Bigstuff
Danny Dyer is often described as a 'hardman' thanks to his roles in The Football Factory, EastEnders, and The Business, but it meant he wasn't able to show his versatility onscreen. However, that perception is now changing. Dyer recently was the standout of Disney+'s Rivals, the adaptation of Jilly Cooper's bonkbuster, and won a BAFTA for his part in Mr. BigStuff. Now, the Sky comedy is returning for a second season, and Dyer tells Yahoo UK how he is grateful for the opportunity to show the world his acting range. 'It was about getting the opportunities, really,' he explains. 'I was very lucky to get Rivals and Mr. Bigstuff back to back. 'I don't suppose I've had an opportunity to show that versatility, in a sense of, I'm still cockney and working class, but I'm managing just different physicality, [my characters] Freddie and Lee are very different.' Mr. BigStuff tells the story of carpet salesman Glen — played by writer and creator Ryan Sampson — whose life is flipped upside down after his larger-than-life brother, Lee, comes barrelling back into the picture. Dyer's part was written specifically with the actor in mind. 'It's the brilliance of Ryan, being a selfless man and writing this thing for me, giving me an opportunity,' Dyer adds. '[He said] 'Here's a vehicle, go and crack on.' I've been around a long time, and it's just about being lucky enough to get the right jobs we can show off.' For the second season, Sampson leaned into Dyer's mannerisms, bringing them into the new series. 'There are a lot of quirks there,' says the writer. 'I write it, and then Danny does the Dyer-isms pass [of the script], and then spins lines in his own voice, and it's always so much better. It's really good, it's impressive.' One of Dyer's most recent — and perhaps surprising — quirks has been his love of miniatures, having built a model library in recent years. The actor jokes that it is the kind of hobby that matches his new role as a grandfather, following daughter Dani Dyer welcoming three children since 2021. 'I've been so busy, I haven't had time,' he said. 'But it's good for mindfulness. "I built a little Victorian library, but tried to put the roof on, the roof was a dome, then I broke the whole thing. I was fuming. I had to put it down for a bit, because I was very, very wound up over this dome, but I do love it. 'I've got magnified glasses, the little flippy-uppy ones. I'm a granddad now. That's what grandfathers do. I'm fitting into the role perfectly.'
Telegraph
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Only Connect is back – so let's celebrate! Here's a little midsummer quiz to get you in the mood
On Monday night, a new series of gruelling BBC Two quiz show Only Connect hits our screens. I know. I don't understand why they're putting it on now either. Autumn is the time for gruelling quiz shows! This is July, and a lovely hot one at that; it's time to slurp down a bottle of Pimm's and roll around in a paddling pool you're pretending you put up for the children. Even though you don't have any children. This is the season for sunburn and croquet. It's time to read Jilly Cooper, pick raspberries and go rock-pooling. Nobody wants to be parked in front of a televised grilling, feeling like a chump. Oh well. Monday is when it's on. So let's celebrate! Only Connect, as I'm sure you know, is a quiz all about connections: hidden links and secret similarities that can be winkled out with lateral thinking, although possibly not midsummer when your mind's addled with sunstroke and rosé. In compensation, here is a simpler quiz about connections in the entertainment world – and it's multiple choice so you're bound to score a few points just by mistake. Good luck. And let's leave it there. Don't worry about the answers, just pat yourself on the back for reading this far. The hot weather is just a herald of climatic apocalypse anyway, so nothing matters! Have a lovely summer, keep hydrated (I recommend a large gin around question four) and I hope you enjoy Only Connect if you watch it on Monday.
Times
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Felicity Blunt on how to eat your way through London — and its literary scene
F elicity Blunt may be part of a glamorous Hollywood family, but she is the real powerhouse: a highly respected literary agent at Curtis Brown, known for championing new voices. Having traded her career as a barrister for the world of publishing, she has become a pivotal figure in the industry, representing an impressive roster of talent, including Jilly Cooper, Daphne du Maurier and Bonnie Garmus, whose debut, Lessons in Chemistry, became a bestseller. Whether she's reminiscing about the literary scene of her twenties or marvelling at the multicultural vibrancy of London today, Felicity's love for the city remains steadfast. 'It's changed so much but there are these hallmarks of London — it's parks, the theatre scene, the old buildings and traditions — remain. They're the groundworks of London,' she says.
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The Couple Next Door star Annabel Scholey reveals what she really thinks about intimacy co-ordinators - and why she's now getting so many sexy roles in her 40s
Hit show Rivals, the rollicking TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's bonkbuster novel, opened with a supersonic bang last year when champagne corks popped as journalist Beattie Johnson and lothario Rupert Campbell-Black joined the mile-high club as Concorde reached the speed of sound. Filming the scene was rather less glamorous, reveals actress Annabel Scholey, best known for legal drama The Split, who starred as Beattie opposite Alex Hassell's Rupert. 'Joining the mile-high club was fun and Alex is absolutely gorgeous, such a gentleman, but it wasn't exactly sexy,' she recalls. While some of the flight scenes were filmed on a real Concorde at Bristol's Aviation Museum, a special set had to be built for the naughty moments. 'They had to build a bigger toilet because the actual Concorde's was so small it could barely fit one person in, and this had to fit me, Alex and the director of photography. He was sitting on the loo while we went at it.' She admits she still gets a little nervous before sex scenes and couldn't eat breakfast before filming that one. 'But once you've rehearsed it, done it to the camera a few times, you're kind of bored; two hours doing the same moves and the same sounds!' Rivals fans will be pleased to learn that we'll be seeing a lot more of Beattie in the upcoming second series after she reappeared in the final episode of the first when it was announced she would be hosting a gossip show for Lord (Tony) Baddingham's TV company – which was going up against his foe Rupert's bid for a TV franchise. 'I've got a really nice storyline in series two,' she says. 'Beattie is bad, and I like playing bad – it's much more fun. So there's a lot more to come from her. It's been so good to be back; everyone in that cast is brilliant and everyone loves each other. 'Normally I do shows that involve a fair bit of weeping so it's nice to do some comedy. Once I'd got over the shock of seeing my sex scene, I watched series one as a punter and I loved it. It was a risk because the story was of its time and there was a lot of sexism, but because it was period they've done it very tongue in cheek. I think it came out at exactly the right time and people were ready for the satire. I'm absolutely thrilled I'm getting to wear my mullet wig again.' Wakefield-born Annabel, 41, is one of those slow-burn actresses who suddenly seems to be in everything. Playing naughty, desperate-for-attention middle sister Nina in The Split first put her on the TV landscape; she's also recently starred as Ann-Marie Blake, the niece who catches a murderer in acclaimed true-crime drama The Sixth Commandment, and took a leading role in BAFTA-winning Welsh film Chuck Chuck Baby. We'll be seeing a lot more of her in the coming months thanks not only to Rivals and Prime Video thriller Apollo Has Fallen, but also to the second series of Channel 4's sexy psychological drama The Couple Next Door. 'For a long time I was frustrated not to be doing anything substantial on TV – I was in the theatre for ten years before I did much at all,' she says. 'But it makes sense to me that this is my path, this is my moment.' In the first series of The Couple Next Door, Eleanor Tomlinson's Evie and her husband Pete moved next door to Danny and Becka, before a night of passion between Evie and Danny had disastrous consequences. But you don't need to have seen that to watch the second, which tells a new tale. Annabel plays renowned heart surgeon Charlotte Roberts who's happily married to consultant anaesthetist Jacob (Sam Palladio). They seem to have a perfect life with busy careers, a large house, nice cars and a loving sex life. But then a red-headed bombshell moves in next door. And patients suddenly start dying… Aggy K Adams stars as the mysterious new neighbour, Mia, a nurse who works at the same hospital. She's feisty, outspoken, refuses to obey the hospital hierarchy – and is stunningly beautiful. Soon both Charlotte and Jacob find their worlds being turned upside down by her before Charlotte's millionaire celebrity doctor ex-boyfriend Leo (Sendhil Ramamurthy) re-enters her world. 'The great thing about turning 40 is that I find myself suddenly playing biochemists and heart surgeons, which is hilarious,' says Annabel, who's been acting since she was 13. 'One of the things I love most about my job is getting to experience different worlds, and to play Charlotte I went into an open-heart surgery theatre, which was mind-blowing. When I had to do it myself, the heart surgeon I'd been following was in there too, pretending to be learning from me. 'And what I also love about playing women of this age like Charlotte is that she's come to this point in her life where's she's thinking, 'What's next?' She's having a bit of a mid-life crisis. She's achieved everything she wants and then she goes on this journey which sees her unravel. 'As a 40-something woman, that's interesting. You've got to that age where you're confident, you know who you are, what you won't put up with any more. But then you suddenly think, 'What am I supposed to do now?' I can feel it myself – I've worked really hard since I left drama school and I feel like I'm not getting really great roles, but I keep thinking, 'What could be next?' 'The other thing about being in your 40s is when you look in the mirror you aren't necessarily at your peak any more, you start to see signs of ageing, and I love that Charlotte goes on a journey of sexual rediscovery. She's hidden that side of herself,her femininity, because she's atop surgeon in quite a masculine world and she's married to someone she's known since she was a student. She becomes awakened physically and mentally, which is really interesting.' As on almost all shows with sexual content now, Annabel worked with an intimacy co-ordinator. She admits she's still getting used to it. 'I've done a lot of sex scenes in my career – I'm often cast in 'sexy' roles and I think because I used to dance for a long time, I'm quite comfortable in my body and the choreographing of these things. I've spoken to other actresses of my own age group and this intimacy co-ordinator thing has been a tricky transition for some of us because we were on our own for so long. But I feel like I'm really starting to get used to it, and actually it makes me feel sad we never had this before. There have been some tricky moments in the past.' Annabel divorced her first husband, actor Ciaran McMenamin, two years ago and they share daughter Marnie, who is six. She has since got married again, to pilot Jim Trayhurn, and says life is now a little easier for actors who are mothers. The Couple Next Door, although set in Leeds, was filmed mainly in Antwerp but Annabel was allowed every other Friday off so she could fly home and be with Marnie for the weekend. 'I think they're now much keener to help actors see their children, and that makes all the difference,' she says. 'My mummy guilt is always sky high but I also firmly believe that I want to show her that it's good to follow your passion. I do get the question, 'Do you love your job more than me, Mummy?' And I say, 'Absolutely not. I don't love anything more than you but I do love my job and it's OK to do both.' I want to show her that it's OK and hopefully by the time she's grown up it will be better still. 'When I was filming The Sixth Commandment I was going through my divorce and it was very tough but they looked after me, got me an apartment and I felt taken care of. I think things are shifting in a good way for mums who are working – which is good as I don't feel like men feel the guilt that we do. It's one of the best things about Rivals as I don't live too far from where it's being filmed in the West Country so I'm working from home, which is fantastic.' Marnie hasn't seen much of Annabel's work – although she's obsessed with a 2014 musical she starred in called Walking On Sunshine – and she knows there will come a day when someone will make a comment about some of her sexier roles. 'She's very cool, not judgmental; she's an adventurer and will be a woman of the world. But also, I'm sure she'll find me deeply embarrassing. She already does at times. But I'd like to think she will think, most of all, 'Mum, you followed your dream and you made a success of it' and that will override anything else.'
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Why Gen Z is obsessed with reading dragon porn
Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn more Gen Z: Keep it down, I'm reading my book. Boomer: You've actually put down your phone? My new romantasy read – Onyx Storm by 44-year-old Rebecca Yarros – has me in a chokehold. Romantasy? Like Aragorn and Arwen's love story in The Lord Of The Rings? Nah, it's 527 pages of hot dragon-rider sex that topped both The Sunday Times and The New York Times bestseller lists. You're reading dragon porn? Everyone is. #Romantasy has more than a billion tagged posts on TikTok. So long, J K Rowling; hello, randy reptiles. It's not just dragons – sales of 75 million steamy fairy novels made Sarah J Maas, 39, the world's top-selling author of 2024. I saw that she was on The Times' bestselling authors list last year, and agreed with the commenter who wrote: 'Horny Hobbits! What on Middle Earth?' Laugh away, but romance sales have more than doubled since 2020. It's now the world's most popular genre. We all enjoy a good love story. It's about spice, not love. A literary agent told The Guardian: 'The steamier the sex, the better a book does.' I read Jilly Cooper's Rivals. Never seen the word c**k so often in one book. Lame. Bookfluencer Tierney Page would give it three at best on the spice-ometer. Isn't that the flavour scale at Nando's? It's a ranking of a book's smuttiness. So five chillies means full-on bonking? Five chillies is for books that are 'cooked', 'unhinged' and 'taboo', Page says. Dare I ask what qualifies? Dream lovers: romance (and romantasy) books are huge among Gen Z Try Taming Seraphine by Gigi Styx. It has a two-page list of triggers, from BDSM and bondage to knife play and exhibitionism. What would Jilly think? Makes Rupert Campbell-Black and his, erm, 'baseball bat' seem ideal boyfriend material. The hitman love interest is described as 'sexy as hell' and 'pant-melting'. The latter sounds more like an iron setting than a character description. One of the book's most popular quotes shared on TikTok is: 'I've killed two of the most important people in my life for you… Because I love you…' My idea of romance is more 'flowers and chocolates' than 'I'll take out my entire family to prove my devotion.' Fair. Maybe have a browse of West London's Saucy Books instead. Let me guess: Hugh Grant's store from Notting Hill has been turned into a sex shop? It's London's first romance-only bookshop, launched last month by 38-year-old Sarah Maxwell. They should have called it Randy Elf On A Shelf. TikTok sisters Avie and Jazzi's tour of the store hit 200,000 views, with shoppers loving its 'Smut Hut'. I imagine that'll cause some issues when people search it on Google Maps. It's a section for the store's most erotic titles, BBC News reported, arranged into sub-sections like 'Enemies To Lovers'. Aren't you lot embarrassed to read this stuff in public? Obvs not. Saucy Books is so popular it sells tickets with customer time slots. I was so mortified reading Fifty Shades at the beach I hid it under Orwell's 1984. Surveillance, submission, a guy obsessed with control: TBH they're not that different. If everyone's reading porn in public, maybe I'll cash in. In fact, a spicy rewrite of a classic novel is already simmering. Jane Eyrotic?
