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Wales Online
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Martin Clunes addresses 'nightmare' with wife after welcoming new additions to home
Martin Clunes addresses 'nightmare' with wife after welcoming new additions to home After the sad deaths of two beloved pets, Martin Clunes bought two new terrier pups – but they brought with them a whole world of trouble, and required some 'punishing' training Martin Clunes and Philippa Braithwaite bought the two terriers to replace older dogs that had died (Image: Maarten De Boer, Getty Images ) Martin Clunes admitted his two dogs have been a "nightmare" as they have been causing chaos in the local area. The actor is back on our screens this week with Islands of the Atlantic, discovering the extraordinary wildlife on islands including the Faroes, Madeira, the Azores and Greenland. But he's had more than his fair share of animal drama at home, too, in the 130-acre Dorset farm he shares with his wife, Doc Martin producer Philippa Braithwaite. The TV power couple purchased the dogs as an "impulse buy". He told the i newspaper that his two Parson Russell terriers have been a "nightmare," and had been causing chaos in the local area. The two dogs had been "an impulse buy," after the deaths of two other terriers he owned, he confessed: "They're great now, but we've all been on a journey." Martin – seen here a dog named Ruby – is a huge animal lover (Image: Finnbarr Webster, Getty Images ) Martin explained: "They're hunters. I don't have any sheep of my own now, but they got a neighbour's lamb and dislocated her leg. I put her in one of our stables for six weeks and had the vet put her leg in a cast, and the puppies got grounded." He added that the unruly dogs had to go for a series of "punishing" sessions to make sure they never worry livestock again. Article continues below Under the Dogs Protection of Livestock Act 1953, if a dog worries sheep on farmland, the owner or the person in charge of the dog is guilty of an offence; the maximum penalty can be a fine of up to £1000. Martin played irascible medic Martin Ellingham in comedy drama series Doc Martin (Image: TV Times, TV Times via Getty Images ) While Martin's two young pups had been guilty of menacing sheep, Martin and Philip have three other dogs – retired guide dog Laura, cocker spaniel Heidi Mae and her son Bob Jackson – and none of them have been so badly-behaved. Unlike Dr Martin Ellingham, the character he played in Doc Martin, Martin has always been an animal-lover. He even developed a special silent way of "shouting" when a Doc Martin script called for him to shout at his character's rough Jack Russell terrier Buddy, which was played by a dog named Dodger. Doc Martin, and his Jack Russell terrier Buddy, are now a tourist attraction in the Cornish fishing village of Port Isaac (Image: James D. Morgan, Getty Images ) Dodger sadly died due to dementia in 2019, and was replaced by Taffy, another dog of the same breed, for the final series of the show. Martin revealed his fondness for Dodger: "Me and Sonia Turner, his trainer, and Dodger, we just had such fun on that, y'know?" he said on a recent episode of The One Show. "Pushing the limits of what we could do with him and he was fabulous." Sonia broke the sad news of Dodger's death on Instagram in 2023. She thanked fans for their good wishes, writing: "A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to remember Dodger and send their condolences. Article continues below "Tom and I are truly touched and amazed that our little chap had been taken to heart by so many people, both here and abroad. Bless you Dodger." Martin Clunes' Islands of the Atlantic airs on ITV this evening (Friday, May 9) at 9pm.
Wales Online
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Matt Baker admits 'it's emotional when time is up' after 'tough' farewell to co-stars
Matt Baker admits 'it's emotional when time is up' after 'tough' farewell to co-stars TV presenter Matt Baker has admitted 'it's emotional' when applicants leave his Channel 4 farming show Our Dream Farm with Matt Baker Matt Baker admitted 'it's emotional' (Image: Steven Landles / Channel 4 ) TV star Matt Baker revealed 'it's emotional when time is up' after he bid a 'tough' farewell to his co-stars on his show Our Dream Farm. The Channel 4 farming show has returned for a second series. The programme, presented by Countryfile star Matt Baker, sees seven applicants - three individuals and four couples - bidding to win a 15-year tenancy on the 600-acre National Trust farm in Eryri, North Wales. Matt is also an executive producer for the show and has admitted the project is close to his heart. The 47-year-old admitted he finds it 'tough' to lose applicants as they leave show due to the 'incredible camaraderie'. Article continues below Speaking to the TV Times, he said: "It really is tough (to lose applicants as they are whittled down). We live in cottages on the farm during filming and do become close. Matt also produces the farming show (Image: Steven Landles / Channel 4 ) "We're working on the farm as we go, so we might be filming one minute and then someone will walk off to deliver a lamb! It's the magic of farming. "I've grown up in that life and love it - as do the applicants, so it's emotional if their time is up." The series aims to shed a light on the realities of working on a farm, tapping into the nation's growing fascination with the industry. The TV presenter called the contestants a great mix, from a builder to a chicken farmer to a farm-mad teenager. Added to that, the applicants are 'real' as they could commit the next 15 years of their lives to running the farm. Applicants have the opportunity to present business plans, discuss their vision for the farm and experience life on the estate by taking part in real-life farming tasks and experiences. The TV presenter praised the 'incredible camaraderie' (Image: Mark Taylor ) Matt added: "This isn't a competition where you win a trophy - this is a life change. To be offering that opportunity is incredible. It's not a job, it's a lifestyle, and viewers are fascinated by the passion that applicants have to embrace it. Our Dream Farm shone a light on that and shows how unbelievably hard work farming is." Earlier in the series, Matt expressed that "it was hard" for him to "stand back" during the filming of his new agricultural series, where he plays a less hands-on role as contestants take the reins. However, despite his extensive farming knowledge as seen on Countryfile, Matt confessed to BBC Essex that he struggled with the need to observe rather than participate: "It's hard not to get involved but it's their selection process, I'm not taking on the tenancy, so it was hard for me to step back. "I joined in when I needed to. Sometimes I was lambing at two in the morning. It was great and I love it, I'm really proud of it." Article continues below Our Dream Farm with Matt Baker returns this evening (Saturday, April 26) at 6pm on Channel 4.
Edinburgh Live
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Live
Prue Leith's husband shares home life insight after star confesses 'I haven't got much longer'
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Dame Prue Leith's husband, John Playfair, has given a touching update on their domestic life after the broadcaster confessed she "hasn't got much time left". Prue, 85, met fashion designer John Playfair at a friend's home while journeying back home from Yorkshire. Prue was invited into a dinner party for a drink, and was met with two men, including John, as well as her friend's sister. The Great British Bake Off star told Loose Women she "felt like a gooseberry" and decided to make her exit. However, John showed up at her house the following day, having experienced an "instant attraction" to the TV personality, reports Wales Online. Prue and second husband John married in 2016. Speaking to the TV Times, John shared an insight into their marriage, he said: "We laugh all day long. "Prue is divinely naughty and very funny. We go everywhere together. She's wonderful company." (Image: Dave Benett,for The National Portrait Gallery) One activity the pair relish doing together is gardening. Although John concedes they have had to modify their garden to accommodate their advancing years. He further stated: "Because of our age, Prue and I plant everything in troughs or buckets so we're not having to bend and tend to things at ground level." Prue has also previously confessed she's "not able to do everything" she would prefer when out in the garden. This came after she recently invested in a new potting shed and greenhouse to populate with plants from her native South Africa. Speaking to the Telegraph, Prue said: "I like propagating because my back hurts and I can do it on a high stool. I'm not as hands-on as I'd like because I'm no longer able to be. I find it vaguely surprising I can't do certain things any longer." (Image: Channel 4/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon) The beloved octogenarian and Bake Off star, who joined the show in 2017, shared on The Travel Diaries podcast with Holly Rubenstein her poignant thoughts about aging: "I haven't got much longer, I'm 85, I want to spend as much time as I can with him." Prue now says she likes to travel with John for work. She has even enlisted her husband as an "assistant" when travelling. She said: "And so, if we are filming abroad, or like next week, we're going to New York, because I've got to publicise the American baking show, then I'm now old enough for my agent to say 'I'm sorry, but she has to ring her husband, because she's 85, she needs someone to carry the bags' she doesn't quite say 'she needs a carer' but it's pretty close." The TV star will return to screens with Prue Leith's Cotswold Kitchen at 11.40am today (April 26) on ITV One. She will be joined by comedian Ruby Wax cooking a warm salad with beef as well as a tofu version.
The Guardian
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Henry Kelly obituary
Henry Kelly, who has died aged 78, was a hard-nosed Irish journalist who reported on the Troubles in Northern Ireland before finding television fame as a presenter of ITV's Saturday evening light-entertainment programme Game for a Laugh, which fashioned itself as a 'people show'. Viewers and the studio audience were declared to be the stars – game for a laugh and at the centre of the action, which included challenges and pranks. A regular game had an audience member sitting in the 'pie chair' and given an almost impossible task – if they failed, they would be on the receiving end of extra-foamy custard pies delivered by extendable mechanical arms with hands on the end. Fans of the programme were also featured displaying their talents, among them a vicar giving a believable impression of Liberace, a laundry worker building a magnificent robot and a man devoted to decorating the inside of his house with old master-style paintings. The four original hosts – Kelly, Jeremy Beadle, Sarah Kennedy and Matthew Kelly (no relation) – presented the show seated on tall stools and were remembered for signing off each episode, inviting viewers to tune in the following week, with the catchphrase 'Watching us … watching you … watching us … watching you' while the camera switched between each presenter and the audience as they delivered the words. Within two months of its launch in 1981, Game for a Laugh attracted more than 15 million viewers. Kelly, described by TV Times magazine as 'the fair, skinny one with the Terry Wogan accent', eventually left two years later after three series, along with Kennedy and Matthew Kelly. 'I realised that comedy really is a serious business,' he told the Daily Express in 2016. 'We had no script, no Autocue and no earpieces. It was a brilliant show. It changed my life … it opened doors for me.' Opportunities included the chance to host a BBC daytime quiz show, Going for Gold, featuring contestants from across Europe. When it was initially suggested, Kelly recalled, he regarded the idea as 'nonsense', but he took on the programme and it became a hit. The show was particularly popular with students, and Kelly was made honorary president of one student union. Going for Gold ran for 10 series (1987-96) and was later revived by Channel 5 with John Suchet presenting. Halfway through his run on Going for Gold, Kelly – who had been a BBC radio reporter before moving into television – returned to radio to become one of the launch presenters of the Classic FM station. From 1992 to 2003, he hosted the mid-morning programme, then the breakfast show, building up an audience of more than 3 million listeners with a format that included recipes and racing tips as well as music, and he was named national broadcaster of the year in the 1994 Sony radio awards. Born in Dublin, Henry was the youngest of five children. His father, also Henry, was a civil servant who had been private secretary to Kevin O'Higgins, the 1920s Irish politician responsible for the execution of 77 IRA members. 'He once showed me notes he had written about 20 minutes after O'Higgins was assassinated,' said Kelly, who pronounced his father a 'warm, lovable, generous man' while admitting to not having a close relationship with his mother. The family moved to Athlone when he was a baby and seven years later returned to Dublin. Henry was educated at the Jesuit school Belvedere college, where he was a friend of Terry Wogan's brother, Brian, and a frequent visitor to the Wogan family home. 'I was good at Latin and Greek and English, and talking, and not necessarily in that order,' he said. While studying English at University College Dublin, he wrote theatre reviews for the Irish Times. On graduation in 1968, he joined the paper as a reporter. When he became its northern editor in Belfast, Kelly reported on the violence that had reignited there. 'I was privileged enough to be one of that small group who knew the north was a serious story long before it became fashionable,' he told the Irish Times. 'It was a very exciting time. I loved it … I absolutely loved it.' Those years on the paper also included assignments in the Middle East and south-east Asia. Kelly's book How Stormont Fell, an authoritative account of the dissolution of Northern Ireland's parliament, was published in 1972. Four years later, he moved to London, joining BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight as a reporter for a five-year stint. He was also a regular reporter on Woman's Hour in 1979-80 before leaving to present Game for a Laugh. 'My colleagues at Radio 4 thought I was mad when I moved to light entertainment,' he said. Nevertheless, he continued on Radio 4 to host the Midweek morning show (1982-83) and co-presented the second and third series of the BBC TV programme Food and Drink (1983-84). In 1983, he joined the ITV breakfast service TV-am during its first year, to take over the Saturday edition of Good Morning Britain from Michael Parkinson. He also sometimes presented the weekday show before leaving in 1987. Kelly's regular return to radio came with his shows on Classic FM in the 1990s – and there was a storm of complaints from listeners after his breakfast programme was handed over to Simon Bates. He went back to the station to host a Sunday morning show (2006-08) after a stint presenting the drivetime programme on LBC (2003-04), which returned him to his news roots. He also had his own mid-morning programme on BBC Radio Berkshire (2005-15). He and his partner, Karolyn Shindler, a former BBC producer, wrote a travel guide to Connemara, titled Henry Kelly in the West of Ireland with Karolyn Shindler, published in 1996. Kelly's marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Margery Conway, ended in divorce. He is survived by Karolyn, their son, Alexander, and a daughter, Siobhan, from his marriage. Patrick Henry Kelly, broadcaster and journalist, born 17 April 1946; died 25 February 2025
