Latest news with #ThisNaturalLife
Wales Online
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Martin Clunes 'faked' shouting at Doc Martin star he 'loved'
Martin Clunes 'faked' shouting at Doc Martin star he 'loved' Martin Clunes admits he refused to shout at one cast member on Doc Martin, instead opting to mime his yelling and record the audio afterwards, because he 'loved' them Martin Clunes revealed he 'faked' shouting at a Doc Martin co-star (Image: ITV ) Martin Clunes revealed he 'faked' shouting at a Doc Martin star before admitting he 'loved' them. The 63-year-old starred as Dr Martin Ellingham on the hit ITV show for a decade. But on The One Show he revealed a 'beloved' member of the cast died recently. Dodger, the dog who played Martin's on-screen alter ego's pet Buddy, joined the cast in 2009. He remained an ever-present on the crew until its ninth series in 2019. After he retired from the show, it was discovered that Dodger had dementia. He didn't appear in the tenth and final series of Doc Martin. And while Martin's character had a fractured relationship with his pet, the actor revealed he actually 'loved' Dodger. His love of the pooch extended so far that he refused to yell at the animal. Martin Clunes with Dodger (Image: Publicity Picture ) Article continues below On the This Natural Life podcast, Martin was asked if it was 'hard' playing a character that hated dogs. Martin replied: 'That was the joke, because why would you hate a dog? The joke was that dogs adored him and they would stick like glue to him. 'But oh, Dodger, he was a dog who I worked with for years and that was one of my happiest working relationships. Seriously, he was brilliant.' Martin went on to reveal he opted not to yell at Dodger while filming the show. When asked about having to reprimand the pooch, he added: 'I just mouthed at him and added the shouting later. 'I just flapped my mouth at him. I had little slices of sausage between my fingers and we could do all sorts of things together, and I really loved that dog yeah.' (Image: BBC/The One Show ) On The One Show, Martin explained that he had 'so much fun' working with Dodger and his trainer Sonia. He said: 'Me and Sonia Turner, his trainer, and Dodger, we just had such fun on that, y'know? Pushing the limits of what we could do with him and he was fabulous." Article continues below It is understood that Sonia announced Dodger's death on Instagram in 2023. She subsequently shared her appreciation for the outpouring of sympathy following the news. In a touching tribute, she said: 'A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to remember Dodger and send their condolences. 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." In a 2022 interview with Yours, Martin revealed that Buddy had been recast for the final series. He explained: "Dodger who played Buddy is still with us and he's happy. It's just that his trainer Sonia decided to retire him because he has doggy dementia."
Telegraph
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Martha Kearney: ‘Meg Ryan was the worst interviewee I've ever had'
Martha Kearney, 67, was born in Dublin and joined the BBC in 1990. She presented Radio 4's The World At One programme for 11 years and was one of the main Today programme presenters for eight and a half years before stepping down last summer. She currently presents This Natural Life on the same station and lives in Suffolk with her husband, the documentary maker Chris Shaw. Best childhood memory? When I was living in Ditchling in Sussex at the age of about 11, I was asked to play Alice in a village production of Alice Through the Looking Glass. It was a real little girl's dream. I had a little cape with a muffler and a little velvet cap. It turns out the production I was in became a cult classic. The music in it, which was quite psychedelic, was recorded and it was, much later, released as an album. I got a copy and so I now have a recording where you can hear my childhood voice. Best day of your life? It was in the best year of my life – 1989. My partner (now husband) Chris and I both packed in our jobs and went travelling. The first thing we did was go trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas in Kashmir. The altitude made sleeping tough but I remember one day where we walked across a glacier and emerged into a valley which was completely covered in purple flowers. We had a picnic and I recall lying in the grass and looking at the snowy peaks around us. It was just an incredible moment – partly because it was so difficult to get there. We felt we'd really earned our view. Best friend you ever had? I can only narrow this down to my best friend at the BBC – but that would definitely be Kirsty Wark. We met in the early 1990s when I first came to Newsnight. She was presenting at that time and she was, and is, just huge fun. She's also been such a supportive colleague. She took the time to show me around the studio, taught me how to look into the right camera and all that. She was very patient and sisterly to me. Over the years we've been on lots of holidays together. I threw a surprise birthday for her the other week where myself and lots of her friends all jumped out from behind the sofa. The decibel levels were very high that night. Best live radio or TV debate? I was presenting Woman's Hour and had both Germaine Greer and Julie Burchill on at the same time. The most almighty row broke out and Julie really attacked Germaine's book which I think was about plastic surgery. It was one of those moments where I just stood back and let the pair of them have their say. We ditched the rest of the programme so we didn't have to stop them. It was just amazing live radio where I had no idea what was going to happen next. I think Germaine was taken aback as she's such a great polemicist, but Julie just tore into her. Best decision? Buying our cottage in Suffolk. My parents found it and we're there most of the time now. We were given a beehive as a wedding present so that got me started as a beekeeper too. Moving to Suffolk really made me connect properly with the natural world. I saw my first peacock butterfly of the year today so it's a place where you really do feel the different seasons. Best place in the world? I really like exploring ancient ruins. I studied Latin and Greek at university and that love of those cultures have stayed with me all my life. The ones I really like are overgrown and feel a long way from anywhere. Termessos is one of the best preserved ancient sites in Turkey, with temples and huge blocks of stone. You feel like you're coming across things for the very first time when you're there. There are brambles and wild flowers everywhere and there's something about those tumbled, ancient blocks which is very romantic. Worst day of your life? The day of the death of my brother-in-law Alastair two years ago. He had Down's syndrome and he was an incredibly important part of my life. He always used to say that I was like both a mother and a sister to him. He got premature dementia and wasn't allowed to see us for a long time during Covid. It was very tough. He got very ill indeed and Chris and I were both with him when he died in hospital. He was only 60. I think about him all the time but do feel very blessed that I was able to be with him at the end. Worst thing you've ever eaten? I was in hospital having my wisdom teeth taken out. I couldn't wait for mealtime and I thought I'd been given a pastry in custard. It turned out it was a sausage roll which they'd put custard on by accident, instead of gravy. I was so hungry but I just couldn't eat that. Worst person you've ever shared a studio with? Meg Ryan was surprising. I'd always loved her films and I was expecting to meet this happy, funny, bubbly blonde, like her on-screen persona. But she was completely different. I almost didn't recognise her. She seemed so unhappy and angry and she clearly really didn't want to be interviewed. I was quite intimidated by her, and I wasn't even asking particularly probing questions. She was so tetchy and difficult. I felt a lot better when I saw her on Parkinson a week later and he had a very tough time with her as well. I thought, if Parky's having trouble then my bad interview with Meg can't all have been my fault. Worst mistake you've ever made? In 1979 I had this huge, early crisis of confidence. When I was a student I wrote to Woman's Hour to see if I could do some work experience for them. They liked an idea of mine about a woman's cult that had started up in Oxford with priestesses. I went off, recorded the piece, edited it then had a complete meltdown of confidence, decided it wasn't good enough and never sent the piece in. I did end up presenting Woman's Hour, but that was about 20 years later. I always think I could have saved myself a few years if I'd had the confidence. The imposter syndrome young women go through is a very real thing and it can be very debilitating. Worst book you've ever read? Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson was a book I had to read at school. I loved Treasure Island but this one was just so tedious. We were reading it aloud around the class so it just took forever to get through it. I did know a student at Oxford who hated one of his textbooks so much that he got an air rifle and shot holes in it! I've never gone that far. Worst place you've ever visited? The women's prison in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2002. What was really shocking was how incredibly overcrowded it was and how young the prisoners were. They were girls really, not women, and some were with their babies, lying on the floor. They'd been locked up for transgressing the religious laws of the Taliban, like being found in a car with a man who wasn't a member of their family. I hope those girls were let out of prison. But then I think about what's happening now and I feel so sorry for the women whose hopes were raised and have now been taken away, again. All time worst? Being on a plane surrounded by parents who let their children watch Peppa Pig or whatever on their iPads without headphones, all at the same time. I do occasionally ask people if they have any headphones. I also know people who will put on their own music very loudly, just to shock them. It's just this cacophony of different sounds all around you that I don't like.
BBC News
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The stars who turned their back on Hollywood (and some who returned)
Actress Cate Blanchett has said she wants to quit acting to do other things, joining a long line of big Hollywood stars who gave up the red carpets for a different 55-year-old is seen as one of the most talented and bankable actresses in film, but she has indicated several times in recent years that she's keen to break away from the big screen."My family roll their eyes every time I say it, but I mean it. I am serious about giving up acting," she told the Radio Times in a new interview. "[There are] a lot of things I want to do with my life."Speaking about her experience of being a celebrity she added: "When you go on a talk show, or even here now, and then you see soundbites of things you've said, pulled out and italicised, they sound really loud. I'm not that person."I make more sense in motion - it's been a long time to remotely get comfortable with the idea of being photographed."Her remarks echoed comments she made to BBC Radio 4's This Natural Life last year, when she said she "absolutely loved" acting, but also said it would be "brilliant" to give it up and spoke about her passion for nature and is best known for appearing in films such as Tár, Notes on a Scandal and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and won Oscars for her performances in Blue Jasmine and The wouldn't be the first successful actor to switch careers slightly later in life. Here are 10 other actors who retired from acting (including a few who came back): 1. Cameron Diaz The US actress was one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 90s and 00s, having made her debut at the age of 21 opposite Jim Carey in The Mask more than 30 years finding fame for her goofy performances in romcoms such as My Best Friend's wedding, and comedies including There's Something About Mary, Diaz went on to prove her dramatic acting chops in movies like Being John Malkovich and Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New she took a hiatus from Hollywood following her turn as Ms Hannigan in 2014's remake of the musical Annie, confirming her "retirement" in 2018. "I was free to be [like] 'I'm a mum, I'm a wife, I'm living my life' - it was so lovely."She said the decade she spent in retirement from acting was "the best 10 years" of her life. But she was eventually persuaded to return to screens earlier this year for spy thriller Back in Action with actor Jamie Foxx. 2. Daniel Day-Lewis The Oscar-winning star, considered one of his generation's finest actors, apparently retired in 2017, but it wasn't the first time he had stepped away from the who holds both British and Irish citizenship, has won an incredible three best actor Academy Awards for roles in My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood and for leaving long stretches between roles, in the 1990s Day-Lewis went into what he called "semi-retirement" and became a shoemaker's apprentice in Florence, was coaxed back to acting by Martin Scorsese and his offer of the role in Gangs of New York.A statement issued through the star's agent in 2017, when he was aged 60, said he "will no longer be working as an actor".Again, however, that proved not to be permanent. Day-Lewis is soon to star in Anemone, the debut feature film from his son Ronan Day-Lewis. Daniel and Ronan co-wrote the script which "explores the intricate relationships between fathers, sons and brothers, and the dynamics of familial bonds".Whether it's a one-off due to the family connection or the start of a big return to film remains to be seen. 3. Jack Nicholson Nicholson is one of only three actors (including Day-Lewis, above) to have won three Academy Awards for acting. Two of Nicholson's were for best actor (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and As Good As It Gets) and another for best supporting actor (Terms of Endearment).The legendary star's other famous roles include Easy Rider, The Shining, The Departed, A Few Good Men, Batman and The he's never formally announced he is quitting or retiring, he previously said his retreat from the spotlight was brought on by a desire to not "be out there anymore".His last film role was in 2010 romcom How Do You just last week, that film's director James L Brooks told Hollywood Reporter: "I wouldn't be surprised to see Jack work again. I mean, it's been a hunk of time but I don't know. Maybe it could be the right thing. He's reading scripts all the time, I think." 4. Greta Garbo Legendary Swedish screen siren Greta Garbo declared in 1941 at the ripe old age of 36 that she would be taking a "temporary" retirement. It proved to be permanent. The Camille and Queen Christina star never appeared on film the reluctant celebrity, the reclusive actress never played the Hollywood game, refusing interviews and avoiding film premieres and other public enigmatic star, whose famous line "I want to be alone" from Grand Hotel mirrored her desire in real life as well as on screen, only succeeded in increasing her mystique by stepping away from the of the few silent movie stars to transition successfully to the "talkies", Garbo moved away from Hollywood to New York, where she lived until her death in 1990 at the age of 84. 5. Sean Connery Synonymous with James Bond, the late Scottish star first found fame through modelling and body-building before landing a few small theatre and TV made his film debut in No Road Back in 1957, but playing Secret Service agent 007 in Dr No a few years later gave him his big breakthrough. He went on to star in five further Bond movies including From Russia with Love and appeared in numerous other films over his long career, including Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie, The Man Who Would Be King opposite Sir Michael Caine, The Untouchables (for which he won an Oscar) and The Hunt for Red October. But he would forever be wedded to 007. In 2005, however, he said he was "fed up with the idiots" adding there was an "ever-widening gap between people who know how to make movies and the people who greenlight the movies."That declaration came a couple of years after he starred in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which many concluded was one of the main reasons for his poorly received comic book caper was to be his final screen appearance. 6. Rick Moranis Kids of the 80s and 90s: You know. This guy was a huge star back in the day, the comedy backbone of popular films such as Ghostbusters, Honey I Shrunk The Kids and the musical Little Shop of Horrors (Suddenly, Seymour anyone?).But then he just seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. So what happened?He began to cut back on work after his wife died of cancer in 1991 to concentrate on raising his children, with his final big screen outing being the 1997 sequel Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves."I'm a single parent, and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the travelling involved in making movies," he told USA Today in 2005."So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it."He did continue to do voiceover work, however, and Moranis was set to make a comeback in a Honey I Shrunk the Kids reboot, which sadly fell through. 7. Gene Hackman We sadly lost this acting legend earlier this year, along with his second wife Betsy Arakawa, but the star hadn't been seen on screen for years after retiring from the profession on the advice of his heart doctor - opting for a quiet life in New Mexico. Hackman shot to fame in Bonnie and Clyde at the end of the 60s and was rarely out of work - in films like The French Connection, Mississippi Burning and chose to bow out from acting in the political satire Welcome to Mooseport in his decision, he told Reuters that he didn't want to risk going out on a sour note."The business for me is very stressful. The compromises that you have to make in films are just part of the beast," he said, "and it had gotten to a point where I just didn't feel like I wanted to do it any more." 8. Bridget Fonda Fonda, from the famous family dynasty, is another star who quit at the height of her fame. Starring in 80s and 90s hits such as Scandal (about the Profumo Affair), Cameron Crowe's Singles, The Godfather Part III and Single White Female (everyone wanted to copy that elfin crop, not just Jennifer Jason Leigh). And then... never formally retired, she just seemed to retreat. Her last big screen appearance was in The Whole Shebang in asked in 2023 by a reporter if she would return to acting at some point, she replied: "I don't think so, it's too nice being a civilian." Fair enough!Fonda's aunt Jane also quit acting in 1990 for several years, explaining later in Vogue that "she wasn't having fun anymore". But she later came out of retirement for the romcom movie Monster-in-Law. "It was just a gut feeling of, Why the hell not? It'd been 15 years, and I wanted to act again." 9. Shelley Duvall Another star we sadly lost in the last year, Shelley Duval was best known for her roles in film like The Shining, Annie Hall and step back from the spotlight wasn't just her choice. Movie roles began to drop off in the 90s and then she decided to move back to Texas after her brother was diagnosed with cancer.A year before her death, she told People magazine: "It's the longest sabbatical I ever took but it was for really important reasons - to get in touch with my family again."Duvall did return to acting in horror movie, 2023's The Forest Hills. "Acting again - it's so much fun. It enriches your life," she told People."[Jessica Tandy] won an Oscar when she was 80. I can still win," she joked. Sadly, she didn't get the chance. 10. Ke Huy Quan Who could forget 2024 award season's most charming star, Oscar winner and Everything, Everywhere All At Once actor Ke Huy Quan?He first found fame as a child actor in the 80s when he landed the role of Short Round in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, before taking another starring role in childhood adventure hit The Goonies. A couple of TV roles followed but then the work largely dried up, and he settled for working behind the scenes as a stunt co-ordinator and assistant director."It's always difficult to make the transition from a child actor to an adult actor," he told the Telegraph. "But when you're Asian, then it's 100 times more difficult."He reluctantly gave up - only due to lack of opportunity - and it took years before he took a punt on inventive, off-the wall movie Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, where his role as Waymond Wang won him an Oscar and made him a Hollywood darling once reporting by Steven McIntosh
