Latest news with #TheFeud
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Jill Halfpenny opens up about the challenges of life as an actress - as she admits being out of work makes her feel 'pointless'
Jill Halfpenny has opened up about the challenges of being an actress - and how long periods out of work make her feel 'pointless'. The Strictly Come Dancing winner, 49, who recently starred in Channel 5 drama The Feud, said as she gets older the lack of structure in an actor's life has gotten harder. And Jill admitted that she's quick to warn up and coming performers about the dark days of being out of work. 'When ever anyone asks me for advice about being an actor, I always say, "How to do you operate in your downtime", because they are the most challenging times,' she said. 'The work when it arrives is easy, but it's when you're in your own head, going, "I'm so pointless". I literally need to put points in my day to make me feel that there's a point to me being here today.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. The Byker Grove star continued: 'When I am out of work and I've been out of work so much in my career, I've had long spells when I am not doing anything and I realise that I like structure, for my day to be punctuated with certain things. 'I really struggle, maybe now more than ever with just waking up and my boyfriend will say, "So what have you got on today." 'In my head I am saying "Nothing, absolutely nothing." I have to give myself structure and its mentally hard.' Speaking on Sophie Ellis Bextor's Spinning Plates podcast, the Geordie actress revealed that she sometimes envies her friend with their so called, normal jobs. 'Some of my friends don't like their jobs and they'll say, "Oh I've got an 8.30am meeting and it's with a person I hate and I've got a two hour meeting with them". 'And I find myself thinking, "I wish I had a meeting with someone I didn't like" because at least it would be something and I'd have something to whinge about, like "Oh that meeting was dreadful." 'But no, there's nothing to say, you're out of work, never knowing if you'll work again. You have the faith and think, logically something will come up, but there are no facts there.' TV favourite Jill has come through a tragic time following the death of her partner Matt James, who collapsed at his local gym from a heart attack in 2017, aged just 43. The terrible event was especially triggering for the star, who had been through the trauma of losing her own father to sudden heart failure after he died playing football when Jill was only 4 years old. Writing in her recent Memoir, A life Reimagined, she spoke about how the aftershock of her father's death led to a period of unprocessed grief in her 20s. She said: 'I realised a lot of my behaviour was down to this unprocessed grief. I got divorced, I stopped drinking alcohol and then it all seemed so clear – the jigsaw pieces fit.' But then when she was forced to go through a season of grief in her 40s, she now feels that she emerged, a 'better person.' 'Grief has made me a better person. Processing the grief has softened me and I've become less judgemental about myself. I am my own worst critic, but I have got better,' she said. Now Jill, who is based in Newcastle, has found love again with marketing executive Ian McAllister and the pair recently enjoyed a romantic trip to Paris together. In her memoir she said: She said: 'For the first time since Matt died, I have met someone and fallen in love. 'The relationship has helped me understand the importance of all the work I have done before I met him. 'I can allow myself to be happy and in love without feeling any guilt. I can be vulnerable and scared and understand where it's coming from. 'I can be free and open, allowing myself to be seen without fear of abandonment. Jill was previously married to actor Craig Conway from 2007 until 2010 and together they are parents to 17-year-old son Harvey.
The Herald Scotland
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Robson Green is back on TV in The Games - a drama so bad it is good
Continues till Thursday A few weeks ago, I reviewed The Feud, a six-part thriller about the building of a kitchen extension. Seriously. A kitchen extension. I ventured that 5's dramas had now become so bonkers they had entered the strange territory of 'so bad they were good'. Clever old 5, sending itself up and giving us a laugh in the process; what would those genre-bending commissioning editors think of next? Full disclosure: I'm an eejit. With two parts down and the same to go, it doesn't need the powers of Sherlock Holmes to see The Game is a rum do. Jason Watkins plays DI Huw Miller, a chap so dull he can't get anyone to attend his retirement bash. Miller was leaving under a cloud, having failed to catch The Ripton Stalker, a mess with your mind type of serial killer who made his victims think they were going mad. He was so arrogant he even had a catchphrase: 'Catch you later'. It was the last thing poor Huw heard before the stalker bashed him over the head and escaped. Back in the present, only Miller's young colleague Jenny (Amber James) made an effort to mark his retirement. 'I don't know what old men like,' she said, handing over a pair of cufflinks to the 55-year-old. Ouch, but also quite funny. Read more It was similarly promising when Gordon Kennedy, of Absolutely fame, turned up as Huw's pal and neighbour, Frank. But then Huw found Frank dead in the bath. Never mind, because Frank's house was bought by Patrick Harbottle (Robson Green), a regular charmer with the ladies. 'I like getting hot and sweaty,' confessed one woman neighbour as she offered to help the new arrival move in. Not everyone falls for Patrick's charms. There's something about him that makes Huw's spidey senses tingle, especially his use of the phrase 'Catch you later'. Is the game of cat and mouse on again, or is Huw imagining things, just like before? Green has a smashing time playing smoothie chops Patrick, even if he is hardly Max Cady and this is no Cape Fear. Watkins has a tougher task on his hands with his nervy ex-copper. He was much better, more muted, playing another Everyman tested beyond his limits in the drama Coma. Here, he seems to have only two gears, one and fifth, and he makes a right racket changing up and down. Helping to keep Huw and the drama in general on an even keel was the ever-reliable Sunetra Sarker (Casualty) as the ex-copper's wife, Alice. Her growing scepticism about Patrick is one of the drama's most promising developments. Every now and then, there's a mad moment where comedy seems to be reasserting itself, as when one neighbour asks Huw to babysit her kids because she is in desperate need of a mani-pedi. It comes to nothing, alas. Green, Watkins and Sarker head a pretty decent cast who are not given enough credible things to do and say. In the game of stripped 5 dramas, those are losing moves in anyone's book.
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The Feud viewers rage 'this is torture!' as they sink claws into 'absolutely ridiculous and farcical' finale - vowing 'never to watch another Channel 5 drama again'
The Feud viewers raged 'this is torture!' and sank their claws into the 'absolutely ridiculous and farcical' finale after weeks of anticipation. As the last episode of aired on Wednesday, some watchers even vowed to 'never watch another Channel 5 drama again'. The gritty neighbourhood drama featured a talented cast including soap star Jill Halfpenny as Emma Barnett and Gavin & Stacey's Larry Lamb as Terry. Downtown Abbey's Amy Nuttall starred as Sonia, while Tessa Peake-Jones, from the hit show Only Fools And Horses, played Barbara. Despite the impressive line-up, the end of the six-part series failed to impress some viewers. Many took to social media to express their disappointment and posted on X: 'And the Bafta award for worst drama goes to... drum roll... THE FEUD.' Some criticised the fast timeline of events after Sonia and Alan's house went up for sale and how fast John seemed to be released from police custody. They penned: 'This storyline is absolutely ridiculous. The timeline is farcical.' '#thefeud never watched anything so ridiculous in my life before too much to list, but one question can planning permission be reversed so easily?' 'So much potential with all that talent. Turned into a right shower of ****! Timeline all over the place, plot holes, rushed ending, stupid plot twist and unexplained son turning up randomly for for no reason. #Thefeud.' While another claimed they would never watch another drama by the broadcaster and said: 'This is torture. I am never watching another Channel 5 drama. #thefeud.' '#thefeud And I thought the previous mini-series before this was bad.' '#TheFeud Started off very promising, went on for too long & then left a number of questions unanswered… not forgetting that several bits of the storyline were, well, quite frankly, ridiculous. Such a pity as the cast were great.' Despite the impressive line-up, the end of the six-part series failed to impress some viewers who took to social media to share their thoughts 'Watching #TheFeud on @Channel5_tv - what a bizarre series. I can't quite work out if it's actually a comedy or not. The acting, script, storyline and incidental music is so ridiculous that it just can't be a serious thriller, surely...' However, some were more positive and one wrote: '#TheFeud was brilliant. Jill Halfpenny = great actress, and her character was completely unlikeable. 'But the music throughout the series = so distracting! Made what could've been an excellent thriller into a caper.' But earlier in the series, fans were overjoyed when an Only Fools And Horses legend Tessa made an epic return to TV in the Channel 5 drama. Tessa plays Barbara, a nosy neighbour who voices her views against Emma's extension plans and is also dealing with her son going missing. While a second added: 'Knew I recognised her - Raquel is back!' Tessa starred in Only Fools And Horses as Raquel Turner, who dated Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter, portrayed by David Jason. Other stars include Spooks star Rupert Penry-Jones as Jon Barnett, Coronation Street's Chris Gascoyne as Peter Barlow and Black Mirror's Alex Macqueen as Nick. Speaking of her role, Tessa told Radio Times: 'We all put on a public face when we meet people and have to behave, and then behind closed doors there's the private face which could be anything. 'For Barbara, it's more emphasised, because what she's dealing with behind their closed doors is so much more extreme.' According to the Express, when one viewer spotted the actress, they wrote: 'It's Raquel from only fools and horses! Haven't seen her in years!'
Telegraph
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The Feud, review: a domestic thriller that is startling in its unoriginality
Channel 5's new domestic thriller, The Feud, written by Aschlin Ditta, is essentially Abigail's Party Wall Agreement. It tells the story of an idyllic suburban street where everyone falls out after one of the happy families decides to do a kitchen extension. Anyone who has popped round to the neighbours to show them some plans over a nice cup of tea, then opened their laptop to see a slew of objections from people worried that this manifest outrage will stuff their hydrangeas, will know the drill. But as drama must, The Feud takes petty disagreements to their logical conclusion: when the show begins there is blood on the door jambs as a prospective buyer asks if this was the house where that couple were killed. We then cut back to a month earlier to find out how the idyll soured and a friendly street descended into rancour and violence. That 'one month earlier' caption is an early warning sign: whatever else it is, The Feud is a startlingly unoriginal piece of work. I have lost count of the number of TV dramas that begin with a gruesome ending and then flash back to 'several months earlier' to show how it all went wrong. I have also lost count of the number of domestic dramas where friends and neighbours turn out to be nothing of the sort and there's a secret behind every smile. What's worse is that The Feud begins with a clichéd set-up and then compounds the error by telling the story in an entirely hackneyed manner. This is Meccano drama that spends the first episode assembling the constituent parts and then unsubtly bolting them all together. Shelbury Drive, our locus, contains an older couple whose son disappeared a few years ago, an oddball busybody who's obsessed with CCTV and parking permits, the Barnetts – who do have a child, albeit an unruly teen – and their neighbours Alan and Sonia who don't have a child but now wish they did. Every character exists to serve a particular forthcoming plot point, and nothing else. Chuck in a secret tryst that you can see coming like a truck on full beam and every element of Drama for Dummies 1st Edition is present and correct. There are one or two reasons to stick with The Feud but they extend only to a strong cast (Jill Halfpenny, Rupert Penry Jones, Adam Macqueen, Louisa Harland, James Fleet) doing their damnedest with limited material; and some unintended comedy. 'Doing a kitchen extension… that could be exciting,' says Emma at one point without a hint of irony. It's a banger of a line. Kitchen extensions are only 'exciting' in the way that a colonoscopy or LinkedIn posts are exciting. If you haven't seen any television, read any books or indeed done a kitchen extension yourself in the last five years it's possible that the burgeoning feud in The Feud will be at least mildly intriguing. It is a modern truth, for example, that people banging on about the life-enhancing qualities of kitchen islands can indeed inspire murderous thoughts. Otherwise, though, this is a feud best left behind closed doors.
Telegraph
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
James Fleet: ‘My wife lends me out to other women'
James Fleet enters the cafe, proffers a large, warm hand and sets out his stall for our interview. 'I'm going to be as bland as I possibly can,' he announces with an ameliorative smile worthy of dim-but-sweet Hugo Horton in The Vicar of Dibley. I'm having none of it and so I bat back the equally smiling assertion that I fully intend to gently prise something interesting out of him. 'I'm not sure I am terribly interesting,' he says, in case it helps his cause. 'Also, I don't want to say anything that gets me into trouble.' Trouble? As actors go, Fleet, 73, is not associated with any sort of argy-bargy – either off or on screen. Until now, that is. In the new Channel 5 thriller The Feud, he has pulled off inarguably his most hateful character to date. 'I did once play a Russian spy years ago,' he muses. 'But I think I was just a bit too nice to be believable. This time, being horrible came far more easily; I even got to throw a shovel at a builder.' But first to appearances; Fleet is wearing exceedingly well; full head of hair, the sort of abundant beard to have any hipster slack-jawed with envy and the effortlessly erect six-foot bearing that makes him a shoo-in for the officer class. Even though his actual beginnings were modest - he was brought up by his widowed mother in rural Aberdeenshire - he remains the embodiment of bumbling-but-kind aristocrat Tom in Four Weddings and a Funeral, once accused by Hugh Grant's Charles of being the richest man in Britain. 'Oh, no! No!' he demurred, way back in 1994 – yes really, that long ago. 'I believe we're about – seventh. The Queen, obviously, and that Branson bloke's doing terribly well.' So, you could say, is Fleet, for all his straight-from-central casting self-deprecation: 'I'm shy and not too bright. I think that makes the best actors. You don't want someone full of confidence who just plays themselves every time; ideally you want someone who hasn't got a personality.' Fleet has never stopped working – in theatre, television and film – since he left the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now rebranded as the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) in the mid-1970s. Fleet's latest role as an angry racist bully in The Feud will surely see him undergo a rebrand of his own in public perceptions. Set in semi-detached suburbia, the eminently watchable six-parter opens with a snapshot of middle-class life on Shelbury Drive; a street fete with bunting, the wives bringing out secretly competitive platters of home-baked sausage rolls, the menfolk drinking bottled beer and murmuring. All terribly civilised, idyllic even. Until Emma, played by Jill Halfpenny and her husband John, aka Rupert Penry-Jones, decide they want a kitchen extension. Nothing too elaborate, not a big deal – until their erstwhile friends start lodging objections and deep cracks start to appear in the carefully maintained facade of neighbourliness. Fleet's character, Derek, lives next door with his downtrodden wife Barbara, played by Only Fools and Horses actress Tessa Peake-Jones. To say he's not happy would be an understatement. But his animus runs far deeper than common-or-garden nimbyism and from the moment he hammers on Emma's door we know, with a sense of terrible foreboding, that this will not end well. 'Derek is an absolutely abhorrent human being,' says Fleet bluntly. 'You hear about actors who stay in character on set and sometimes even bring that persona home with them. I couldn't bear to be him a single moment longer than was necessary – in between takes Tessa and I would tell jokes and make one another laugh as a sort of palate cleanser.' Peake-Jones and Fleet have known each other for many years as she is a close friend of his wife, the actress Jane Booker, 68, probably best known as the Sloaney receptionist Felicity Spicer-Gibbs in hit sitcom Don't Wait Up. During filming, Peake-Jones would mischievously text Booker revealing what fresh indignity (or worse) his monstrous character had perpetrated on her, Fleet tells me with an indulgent little 'what-can-you-do?' sigh. 'I know that disputes over planning permission can be a real flashpoint when you all live up close to one another,' he says. 'We live in a converted barn in Oxfordshire so our neighbours aren't that near, although when they built an extension they moved out for four months and left us with the sound of concrete mixers, lorries driving in and out and the builders' music blaring.' I wonder aloud if he's succumbed to grumpiness – he immediately demurs. 'I am very conscious of not being grumpy in front of my wife,' he insists, which doesn't quite answer the question. 'I don't ever complain about the way the dishwasher is stacked, although I might suggest there are other ways to do it…' The couple live there with their adult son Hamish, who prefers to stay out of the limelight and occasionally disagree about whether to get a dog. 'My wife wants a 'doodle or a 'poo but I'm not in favour of designer dogs. I want a Bill Sikes bull terrier but she says I can't have anything that looks too scary in the countryside, so we remain dog-less.' Fleet spends most of his time either painting, more of which shortly, or mending things. 'I changed the battery in my phone just the other day, which isn't at all easy,' he tells me proudly, waving about a venerable iPhone 6. For reference: the rest of the world is currently salivating over the new iPhone 16. 'I am very handy. I struggle to understand how any woman can give herself over to a man who can't put a screw in a wall or mend a tap. My wife lends me out to other women who need washers replaced; they shower me with such praise that I'm sure their husbands must hate me.' He is beaming with satisfaction at the thought before confiding his ambition to quit acting completely and be a full-time mender-of-things and artist. His canvases sound the very antithesis of bland. 'Richard Curtis has bought a couple of them, including a surreal one set in the Edinburgh festival featuring people in costume running about and fighting with one another. It would be wonderful to devote myself to that.' Maybe in time, but right now he still can't resist the allure of an intriguing play or a challenging film. To his knowledge, he can't recall turning anything down, and suggests I consult the internet if I want to know more about his years at the Royal Shakespeare Company, or his appearance in vampire movie Wolf Manor, as he really can't recall them. My question about Four Weddings is met with an 'Oh Christ, not again'. Of Dibley, he says: 'Everyone's dead apart from Dawn. And me.' While Fleet is keen to push boundaries, he despairs that younger generations are hooked on rubbish. 'I despair of the way young people watch Marvel superheroes and TikTok, where everyone breaks the fourth wall,' he says, in grave danger of getting fired up. 'It started out with Fleabag which was well done, but now everyone's at it, because they think it's cool. But it creates viewers who can't understand emotional depth or cope with too much complexity. 'If I had my way they would watch classic black and white films or French movies which are far more interesting than these franchises made for a global audience. Or they could start in domestic noir territory with The Feud, where nobody is quite as they seem and that nice posh bloke from The Vicar of Dibley turns out to be a violent bigot... The Feud begins on Channel 5 on Monday April 14 at 9pm
