Latest news with #Mothership
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
BBC Studios Acquires Unscripted Production Company Mothership TV
BBC Studios Productions, a unit of BBC Studios, has boosted its investment in Mothership TV, the unscripted production firm founded by former Channel 4 deputy director of programs Kelly Webb-Lamb, to take full ownership of the company. In late 2022, BBC Studios Productions had taken a 25 percent stake in the company. More from The Hollywood Reporter Andrew Tate and Brother Tristan Charged With 21 U.K. Crimes, Including Rape and Human Trafficking Susie Wolff Is Putting the F(emale) in F1 Guillermo del Toro to Host Canadian Horror Film Festival (Exclusive) The transaction unveiled on Thursday marks the second deal for an unscripted indie by the unit of the commercial arm of the BBC following its acquisition of Voltage TV (Amanda and Alan, Tempting Fortune) in 2022. Mothership will be part of BBC Studios' newly announced Unscripted Productions, led by Kate Ward, managing director, Unscripted Productions. Financial details weren't disclosed. Under the terms of the deal. BBC Studios will have first-look global distribution and format rights to Mothership's output. Mothership launched in 2022 to make 'entertaining, warm and witty unscripted formats of scale.' Currently in production by it is Secret Genius, a new competition format for Channel 4 in which 'Alan Carr and Susie Dent will test Britain's brainpower like never before to uncover the country's most gifted and unsung minds.' Mothership has also produced Around The World in 80 Weighs and Sandi's Great British Woodland Restoration for Channel 4, with 'a raft of new programs in development.' Said Webb-Lamb: 'What matters most to me is being able to make great telly with great people and I've really enjoyed and valued Mothership's relationship with BBC Studios over the past three years. I'm looking forward to deepening this relationship going forward.' Added Ward: 'As demand for unscripted formats continues to grow both in the U.K. and around the world, we are thrilled to be strengthening our successful partnership with Kelly and Mothership and look forward to a very exciting future.' BBC Studios Productions also houses six scripted labels, namely Lookout Point (Gentleman Jack, Happy Valley 3), Baby Cow Productions (Brian and Margaret, Changing Ends), House Productions (Conclave, Sherwood), Clerkenwell Films (Baby Reindeer, The End of the F**king World) Sid Gentle Films (Killing Eve, Rain Dog) and Firebird (Wild Cherry, Outrageous). It also holds minority investments in a five others, namely Various Artists Limited, Expectation Entertainment, Turbine and Boffola Pictures. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Jilted boyfriend throws grenade at ex-girlfriend's house in Thailand, dies in blast
A 35-year-old man in Thailand threw a hand grenade at his ex-girlfriend's house after she refused to get back together with him. He died in the ensuing blast, while the ex-girlfriend survived unharmed. According to a report in Bangkok Post, the 35-year-old man was killed and four others injured in the grenade blast on May 25. The incident occurred in the Tha Chana district of Thailand, police confirmed. Surapong Thongnak had reportedly reached his ex-girlfriend's house after the couple broke up. He was hoping to reconcile with her. However, the woman refused to get back together with Surapong. After he failed to change his ex-girlfriend's mind, an enraged Surapong attempted to stab her with a pair of scissors. Passersby intervened to stop him. Surapong then went back to his car, retrieved a hand grenade, pulled the pin and threw it towards the group of people who had gathered to stop him. The grenade, an M26 fragmentation grenade, failed to explode right away. Surapong then picked it up, hoping to throw it again. However, the grenade exploded in his hand. The force of the explosion shattered the windows of cars parked nearby. Surapong was found lying in a pool of his own blood when authorities arrived at the scene. He did not survive the blast. Four other people – two men and two women – suffered injuries in the last. According to Bangkok Post, they were taken to Tha Chana Hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, the target of Surapong's wrath, his ex-girlfriend, survived unharmed. She had run back to the house before the grenade exploded. Police found 500 grams of methamphetamine inside Surapong's Honda Civic car, which was also damaged in the blast. Mothership reported that five years ago, he had also been jailed on drug-related charges. (Also read: Disowned son of Thailand king becomes a Buddhist monk, renewing succession drama)
NDTV
26-05-2025
- NDTV
Woman Blames Manager For Viral LinkedIn Post Misidentifying DBS Bank's Ex-CEO
A Singapore woman, who in a LinkedIn post identified a stranger as former DBS Bank CEO Piyush Gupta, has now broken her silence over the viral claim. This came after Mr Gupta clarified he wasn't in the picture. "Sorry to disillusion you. That isn't me!" he wrote in the comments section of the post. In an interview with 8World News, Janney Hujic, a Singapore resident, claimed her freelance social media manager posted it without her consent to gain traffic. She alleged that the manager, based in the Philippines, even blackmailed her for S$5,000 (approx. Rs 3.08 lakhs) based on the number of likes. Ms Hujic added the freelancer was paid one dollar for every like her posts received. Narrating the incident, Ms Hujic said her manager, whom she hired in March to manage her Instagram and LinkedIn, posted the story without her permission when she was on a cave trip to Vietnam with no internet connection. When she came into the network zone area, she found the freelancer had changed her LinkedIn password and she couldn't log back in, according to a report in Mothership. She even shared the screenshot of the blackmailed message, which was accessed by Mothership, that read, "Post has over 6k engagement. Pay me 5k SGD and I take down. Profile now is down. I changed access and all. When I get paid I give you back access." Ms Hujic said that on her trip, she approached the man, identified as Kumar H Subramaniam, who resembled Mr Gupta. She clicked a picture and shared it as a joke among her friends in a group, which also included her freelance social media manager. When she regained access to the internet on May 24, she found that she was being heavily trolled online. By then, her freelance social media manager had logged her out of her LinkedIn account. Speaking with Mothership, Mr Kumar, the man in the picture, said he was having lunch with a colleague at a cafe in Bali when he was approached. She showed him a picture and asked if he was Mr Gupta. "She and her guy mentioned that they had worked at DBS before and we joked about her pranking her friends that she had bumped into Mr Gupta by chance in public while on their holiday here," he said. "I never, at any point, said that I was indeed Mr Gupta. I never agreed for my picture to promote any business or social ventures on anyone," he said.
New Paper
23-05-2025
- New Paper
S'porean man mistaken for ex-DBS CEO Piyush Gupta says he told woman it wasn't him
A Singaporean man who was wrongly identified as former DBS CEO Piyush Gupta in a viral LinkedIn post has come forward to clarify that he never claimed to be the prominent banker - and had in fact told the woman who posted the photo that she had the wrong person. The man, Kumar H Subramaniam, 58, was thrust into an unexpected online spotlight after LinkedIn user Janney Hujic posted a photo of herself with him on May 19, claiming she had "bumped into" Mr Gupta at a café in Bali. "I glanced across the room and thought, that looks an awful lot like Piyush. Curious, I walked over - and sure enough, it was him," Ms Hujic wrote. The post tagged Mr Gupta and was accompanied by a polished, reflective caption typical of the professional networking site. But the next day, Mr Gupta himself commented: "Sorry to disillusion you. That isn't me!" Despite Mr Gupta's denial, the post remained online and quickly went viral, sparking widespread mockery across social media. Many called it "peak LinkedIn" - a jab at the platform's reputation for overly polished, sometimes performative content. Ms Hujic has not personally responded to the incident, but a member of her team later posted an update on her LinkedIn account. According to the update, Ms Hujic is currently on an expedition in Vietnam's remote Tú Làn Cave, where there is no internet access. She is expected to return online on Sunday to address the situation. The update also clarified that Ms Hujic had used ChatGPT to help refine the wording of her original post, and had tagged Mr Gupta with the genuine belief that it was him - hoping he would respond to her post. Her team stressed that there was no intent to deceive and that she had not knowingly misled anyone. It is unclear whether the mix-up was a genuine mistake or an intentional stunt. In an interview with Mothership, Mr Kumar confirmed that he was the man in the photo and clarified that he had told the woman he was not Piyush Gupta. He explained that he had been having lunch with a colleague at a Bali café when Ms Hujic and a male companion approached him and asked if he was Piyush Gupta, even showing him a photo. "I told them I wasn't," Mr Kumar said, adding that he'd been mistaken for the former DBS CEO more than once. He said the trio even joked about the resemblance, with Ms Hujic saying she might prank her friends. Mr Kumar agreed to a photo but made it clear he never identified himself as Mr Gupta. "She said she used to work at DBS and we had a laugh," he recalled. "But I never, at any point, said I was Mr Gupta - and I definitely did not agree for my photo to be used to promote any business or social venture," he added. He also said that he was surprised to see the photo on LinkedIn the next day, especially after having clarified his identity. Mr Kumar H Subramaniam, 58, in a recent selfie. PHOTO: MOTHERSHIP Mr Kumar, who has lived in Indonesia for 25 years and now works as a teacher in Bali, said he received a contact number from the man accompanying Ms Hujic, but has no plans to reach out. "Why should I call them when I'm not in the wrong? They should be the ones to contact me," he said. He also denied online speculation that he had misled Ms Hujic on purpose or flirted with her: "Some have said I tried to bed her - but she was with her partner or husband." Mr Kumar said his colleague, who was present during the encounter, can vouch for his version of events. Following the viral post, Mr Kumar said he has received a wave of racist comments online - many targeting his ethnicity. "If you read the comments, they mention scam centres, say all Indian men are the same, or use the 'K' word," he said. He added: "This is racism at work. Bald Indian men with glasses look alike?" He added that racism was one of the reasons he left Singapore years ago. "One reason I left was because people would say things like 'Serangoon smells bad'. Now, 25 years later, I'm still getting trolled online" he said. Asked whether he would consider taking legal action, Mr Kumar said he has no plans to sue. "Some have asked me to, but this is just an online storm in a teacup. We all know the news cycle - in a week's time, this will blow over," he said. What he wants, he said, is to take a stand. "I just want people to stop stereotyping and making offensive remarks. That's all." And if you happen to be in Bali? "If you ever see me at the café, just say hi," he said.
Independent Singapore
08-05-2025
- Business
- Independent Singapore
141 HDB resale flats sold for at least $1 million in April
SINGAPORE: Last month saw the highest number of Housing & Development Board (HDB) flats sold for $1 million or more, with 141 such units exchanging hands. This is the highest volume of transactions over the past year, according to a 99-SRX flash report. Data released by HDB revealed that the price of resale flats went up by just 1.6 percent last quarter compared to Q4 2024, year-on-year. However, resale prices in April were up by 9.3 per cent. April's 141 million-dollar flat sales show a significant increase from the 108 similar transactions in March. In total, 2,309 HDB resale flats were sold last month, which means that 6.1 per cent fetched prices of over one million dollars. The spike in pricey transactions could well be a temporary one, according to a Mothership report, which quotes the chief data and analytics officer at Luqman Hakim, as saying that the high number of sales in April could have been influenced by specific conditions, including the recent General Election, as well as tariffs and other economic considerations. 'The higher prices and rise in million-dollar flat sales could simply be a temporary spike, driven by near-term caution and opportunistic moves. As economic uncertainty settles or new policies are introduced, activity in the resale market could moderate in the months ahead,' he said. Among the resale flats sold last month, nearly three in five (59.7 per cent) are located at non-mature estates. For April's million-dollar flat transactions, 27 are located at Toa Payoh, including the most expensive one, a five-room unit at Lorong 1A Toa Payoh that sold for $1.49 million. There were 23 such pricey transactions at Bukit Merah, and 14 each at Queenstown and Kallang/Whampoa. Among the types of flats, the price of three-room units went up the most last month, year-on-year, a substantial 10.2 per cent price increase. Four-room flats went up by 9.5 per cent, meanwhile, and five-room flats increased in price by 8.5 per cent. Executive flats saw the lowest price increase, at 6.8 per cent. A number of commenters have weighed in on the matter, with some expressing concern. 'This is very worrying since BTO is pegged to resale prices,' opined one Reddit user. Another agreed that high prices for HDB flats are 'worrying for citizens'. Others seemed to accept this as part of the new normal for property prices. ' I am going to generalise. Any 5-room OR 4-room with more than 80 years lease and near MRT is likely to be close to $1M,' wrote one. Another pointed out that even a 3-room resale flat near Queenstown fetched a price approaching the million-dollar mark. '$1 million HDB flat is no longer newsworthy, unless it's for certain estates that have no such transaction yet,' another added. 'The fact that 1 million is no longer newsworthy is what's scary about it. Means it's already a norm,' a commenter agreed. /TISG Read also: Another Pinnacle @ Duxton flat resold for record $1.5 million
