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Katie Archer·TV ReporterThu, 6 January 2022, 4:10 pm

Dancing On Ice is set to make a return a year on from the most disastrous series in its history.

The 2022 series will begin on ITV on Sunday, 16 January, following last year’s chaotic run which was plagued by illness, injury and scandal.

It was even forced to cut its run from 10 weeks down to eight thanks to the number of drop outs – we take a look back at the biggest issues the show faced.

Injured skaters

By its nature, Dancing On Ice usually includes a few cast injuries as the amateur skaters try their best to impress with daring moves.

However, the 2021 series included some particularly nasty accidents, with Denise Van Outen the first celebrity in the cast to fall victim to injury when she broke three bones in her shoulder and partially dislocated it, leaving her still in physio months later.

Van Outen tried her best to soldier on, but only managed one live performance before having to quit.

She was swiftly followed by Billie Shepherd, who took part in the first two weeks before suffering a concussion in training.

Jason Donovan lasted slightly longer, but became the fifth celebrity to withdraw from the contest after four weeks on air because of an old back injury that had been made worse by training.

The celebrities weren’t the only ones wounded – pro skater Yebin Mok was originally partnered with Graham Bell, but had to drop out before the series began when he accidentally stabbed her in the leg with his skate during training, leaving her needing surgery.

Pro skater Hamish Gaman, who had partnered Faye Brookes, also had to quit over a finger injury.

COVID-hit cast

As well as the three injured celebrities, two more had to drop out after testing positive for COVID.

The first was Rufus Hound, who had been touted as Dancing On Ice‘s answer to Strictly Come Dancing winner Bill Bailey when he did unexpectedly well in the first show and won a golden ticket through to the next round – but never reappeared on the rink, thanks to his COVID diagnosis.

Following him after week three was Joe-Warren Plant, another promising contestant, whose time on the ice was cut short by coronavirus.

Scheduling changes

Losing five celebrities from the cast was a show record and although two reserve contestants were waiting in the wings to step in, their time competing was shortlived.

Amy Tinkler had three weeks in the show, but Matt Richardson only managed one live show before he was voted out.

With celebrities continuing to get ill and injured, and no more reserves to call on, bosses had no choice but to take a week’s break mid-series, airing a pre-recorded show of the most memorable Dancing On Ice moments ever instead (which itself proved controversial when former contestant and Hollyoaks actor Chris Fountain complained that many of his best routines had been overlooked).

The series then had to end a week earlier than planned, limping towards the final with Sonny Jay eventually taking the crown in an anti-climax of a grand final.

Cast controversies

Rufus Hound might only have appeared in one live show, but he managed to make his mark by sparking Ofcom complaints over his remarks on being the surprise winner of the golden ticket through to the next round.

Making reference to the Government reversing its decision not to extend the free school meals voucher scheme into the summer holidays after pressure from a campaign by footballer Marcus Rashford, he said: “I’ve spent most of this year not being emotionally stable because the world stopped making sense and this does not make more sense of it. Thank you, I don’t know what is happening.

“We live in a world where the people we elect don’t want to feed hungry children, this is the least mad thing that has happened to me in a long time.”

But the controversies rumbled on even after the series ended when judge John Barrowman was caught up in a historic sexual harassment scandal.

After Noel Clarke was accused of sexual harassment by more than 20 women, an old interview of Clarke talking about Barrowman having regularly exposed himself to cast and crew on the set of Torchwood surfaced.

Barrowman has since claimed that his “silly behaviour” was not sexual harassment, but is not returning to judge this year, with Strictly pro dancer Oti Mabuse taking his place instead.

Dancing On Ice 2022 will begin on ITV on Sunday, 16 January at 6.30pm.

The Masked Singer fans are in full guessing mode as they try to work out the identity of each new contestant.

One of the masked celebrities on the new series of the ITV show is Doughnuts, who performed for the first time in episode one.

In his video introduction, Doughnuts was heard speaking in a Liverpudlian accent and calling himself “extra speedy”.

We also saw some football sweets among a pick’n’mix, as Doughnuts commented: “As well as being sweet, I’ve also been savoury.”

He sang “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor for his performance.

Fans seem convinced that the celebrity must be involved in sports, suggesting football stars including Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler and Gary Lineker.

However, Lineker denied being Doughnuts after author Emma Kennedy claimed it was him.

“Doughnut: @GaryLineker (No need to thank me),” she wrote on Twitter.

“You’ll never see me on that show…or Strictly, ever,” Lineker responded.

Other fans seemed convinced that Doughnuts is Owen, in part due to Doughnuts’ reference to being a “jockey”.

Owens is a noted racing fan and has owned Manor House Stables, a thoroughbred racing horse establishment in Cheshire, since 2007.

He also appeared in a Walkers Crisps advert in 1999 for the “Cheese and Owen” flavour, which could account for the “savoury” comment.

“I’m watching Masked Singer repeat and don’t know if it’s been revealed already but Doughnuts is definitely Michael Owen,” one fan tweeted.

According to Betfair, Owen is the most likely celebrity to be behind Doughnuts. You can see the odds below.

Doughnuts odds:

Michael Owen (4/9)

Robbie Fowler (4/1)

Gary Lineker (8/1)

Rio Ferdinand (12/1)

Nick Grimshaw (16/1)

The Masked Singer continues on Saturday on ITV.

If Tim Davie winced when he was recently scalded as a “fat cat” for taking a £75,000 pay rise, the BBC Director-General might now be thinking he deserves a little more cream in his saucer.

His job becomes harder by the day as star BBC journalists, from political editor Laura Kuenssberg to North America editor Jon Sopel, begin a disorientating game of musical chairs while senior news executives head for the exit doors at Broadcasting House, along with hundreds of experienced editorial colleagues.

Even News at Ten presenter Huw Edwards has been linked with rival broadcasters. Should Davie tune in to Newsnight, he will be reminded that it is looking for a new editor after Esme Wren’s announcement on Tuesday that she is quitting for Channel 4 News.

The BBC newsroom is making savings of £80 million and has shed more than 250 staff in a “Modernising News” programme of 475 job cuts. There are tensions with the new Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, a critic of the BBC who has warned that it needs “real change” if it is to survive. Meanwhile, it has lost experienced figures such as technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones and breakfast host Louise Minchin. David Shukman finishes his long tenure as science editor this week at COP26.

This instability is compounded by the resignation in September of Fran Unsworth, BBC director of news. She will depart this month after a 40-year career and ITV chief executive Deborah Turness has now been announced as her successor, with her start date to be confirmed in due course.

Davie, 54, an ultra-marathon runner, is an incisive and energetic leader. He will oversee all big appointments. “He’s very involved in all prominent on-screen talent deployment — he’s very much a hands-on DG,” says a BBC source. “With a leadership vacuum in BBC News he needs to be.”

Kuenssberg has announced she is to step down at Easter 2022. There is no obvious single role currently available matching her profile as political editor. “They will have to beef up her situation so she has lots of other things; documentaries and podcasts and other projects,” predicts one source. “You have to cook up a deal for Laura which allows her to retain her stature.” Central to this equation is her interest in a part-time presenting role on the Today programme.

This brings problems. Some in BBC radio are concerned that Today, a BBC flagship, will lose its identity if presenting roles are “just handed out to people willy-nilly as a prize for hard work and they can then pick and choose when to work themselves”. Today, once known for having two distinct lead presenters, is now variously hosted by Nick Robinson, Justin Webb, Mishal Husain, Martha Kearney, Amol Rajan, plus stand-ins Simon Jack and Sarah Smith, with possibly Kuenssberg to come. “Radio is about familiarity,” one insider says of this throng. “What you don’t want is someone else coming in part-time and deciding it’s not for them and buggering off again.”

None of the main presenters are looking to move on to free up shifts for Kuenssberg. “There is competition and only one big 8.10am interview, so there’s a fair amount of unease,” says another source on the programme. Because of the coincidence of the departures of Kuenssberg and Sopel, it has been assumed that the North America editor is returning for the Westminster job. Sopel, 62, a former host of the The Politics Show, “knows Westminster well”, says one BBC journalist, and is “liked and respected internally.”

But such a convenient transition is far from certain, even if Sopel is bookies’ favourite to be the next BBC political editor. “He is not coming back specifically to do it,” says a close colleague. “If they offered it to him, would he do it as an interim? He probably would.”

But for all the consummate broadcast journalist’s eminence, “some editors think he never got out of Washington [and] made a concerted effort to just stick in front of the White House,” says an insider. Notably, it was ITV’s Robert Moore who beat all rivals to be inside the mob that stormed the Capitol in January.

The impression of BBC News being flat-footed was underlined in August when it tarnished excellent coverage of Afghanistan by not having a senior correspondent in Kabul when it fell to the Taliban. “We had our eye off the ball,” says one source. “The BBC is spending its time dealing with very painful restructures and that’s not what makes a good newsroom.”

Sopel’s successor in America has been confirmed as Sarah Smith, a successful Scotland Editor and daughter of former Labour leader John Smith. But getting Kuenssberg’s replacement right is paramount in building public trust as the BBC negotiates its future with the hostile Dorries.

Kuenssberg, 45, is a reporting whirlwind across TV, radio, podcasts and Twitter where she has pioneered a more immediate political journalism for her 1.3 million followers. She is admired by news industry peers, who named her Journalist of the Year in 2016, and popular inside the BBC. “You never hear things about her that you do hear about some other people; that they’re difficult to work with,” says Danny Shaw, former BBC home affairs correspondent.

The job of “Pol Ed” has “become highly politicised” during Kuenssberg’s tenure, says Richard Sambrook, a former BBC director of news. “Nobody made as much fuss when Nick Robinson or Andrew Marr decided to move on but suddenly Laura has become the story, which I don’t think is helpful.” He says she has done the job “extremely well under huge pressure”. Potential replacements for Kuenssberg include her deputy Vicki Young, Sky’s Beth Rigby, ITV’s Anushka Asthana, and Rajan, the BBC media editor.

Former BBC presenter Mark Mardell believes diversity will be a factor. “It’s like the next Doctor Who, if you give it to a middle-aged white man you are making a statement that you have had a woman political editor and that’s it, diversity is done and dusted. It’s not.”

Meanwhile, rank-and-file BBC staff continue to grumble. Davie’s pay rise went down “like an absolute lead balloon”, according to Pierre Vicary, president of the National Union of Journalists. Still, the D-G can be reassured that Edwards wants to stay at the BBC. In a statement emailed to the Standard, he said: “I have never given serious thought to any move from the BBC where I’ve spent my entire career. I’m very happy presenting the Ten, breaking news, elections, state and ceremonial events, and hope to continue in that role for as long as I’m needed.”

Davie has made impartiality his watchword and that will be key to his future appointments. “He is keen on those who enthusiastically endorse his impartiality drive…he has made it a totemic thing,” says an insider.

While some fear that over-emphasis on neutrality will neuter the BBC’s output, the D-G insists his priority is to make the BBC relevant to every household in the UK. The danger is that without strong on-air characters and distinctive programmes, it will become so bland that audiences and talent will look elsewhere.

Laura DenbyThu, 6 January 2022, 10:28 am

After the latest shocking cliffhanger, Meena Jutla’s (Paige Sandhu) sinister reign continues in an Emmerdale double-bill tonight.

During last night’s episode of the soap, the killer panicked when newly-reinstated police officer Harriet Finch (Katherine Dow Blyton) investigated Manpreet Sharma’s (Rebecca Sarker) disappearance.

Meena’s attempts to divert her attention failed, and her words certainly weren’t enough to stop Rishi Sharma (Bhasker Patel) worrying about the whereabouts of his estranged wife.

In the closing moments of Wednesday’s instalment, Meena raged as her plot to savour her next sickening act of murder fell apart. We saw her dragging a body along in the darkness, before telling Manpreet that she “never wanted it to end like this”.

Now Emmerdale viewers are left wondering if Meena has taken her sister’s life earlier than planned.

Of course, our spoiler round-up for next week has already teased the answer, but if you would rather avoid knowing too far in advance then you can read on below for a spoiler-free preview of tonight’s drama in the Dales.

As far as this storyline goes, ITV isn’t giving anything away ahead of Thursday’s episode — so naturally, we can’t tell you much about what transpires either.

What we can say is that Harriet and PC Swirling (Andy Moore) haven’t given up just yet, and Meena tries to cover her tracks. This leads her to make a discovery and embark on a search of her own.

Despite these stressful developments, the game has only just begun as far as Meena is concerned. But how long can she really keep things under her control? And what has she done to poor Manpreet?

Elsewhere, Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson) is determined as ever to prove Liv Flaherty’s (Isobel Steele) innocence and speaks to a number of villagers. Will this lead him to the truth about Meena?

Paige Sandhu continues her captivating portrayal of Meena, as Emmerdale delivers another superb solo scene that will leave you gripped.

Read more: Murderous Meena ‘will do anything’ warns actor Paige Sandhu

The actor previously suggested that her character’s ego could have the potential to ruin her.

“There’s this sense of like ‘I kind of want people to see what I’ve done’. I always find that sometimes, she’s very good at playing the mask and manipulating people and pretending to be a completely different person.”

Sandhu added: “But sometimes I think Meena purposefully has… what I call it is 50% mask, where you kind of see that she’s lying but the words that she’s saying are so sweet that you’re like, ‘wait what? What’s going on?!’ And she enjoys that because it’s part of the game – and that’s starting to make her downfall.”

With this in mind, we can tease that tonight’s Emmerdale showcases a little more of Meena’s mask slipping.

Tune in to find out how — you won’t want to miss it.

Brian McIver·ContributorThu, 6 January 2022, 12:02 pm

Jamie Dornan’s new thriller series The Tourist is the biggest telly hit of the new year. The whole country is talking about the BBC show, but it’s just the latest in a long line of amnesia themed stories to capture the audience’s imagination.

From The Bourne Identity and Memento to recent C4 drama Close to Me and even Neighbours, memory loss has been at the heart of countless shows and films.

And no wonder — it guarantees instant suspense and mystery with a sympathetic hero and a thrilling journey for the audience to get involved with.

Read more: Actors who were paid a pittance for their breakthrough roles

Or in the case of Neighbours, a great excuse to explain a beloved character’s return after a lengthy, washed out to sea, absence…

The Tourist

Fifty Shades of Grey and The Fall star Jamie Dornan is in fabulous form as a car accident victim left with absolutely no memory of his identity or life before the crash. Aspiring local cop Danielle Macdonald tries to help him, while all kinds of people seem to be trying to chase or kill him. 

Created by the Williams brothers behind The Missing and Baptiste, this is one of the few to utilise both the humour and the horror offered by amnesia.

The Bourne Identity

One of the gold standards of memory loss movies is the 2002 Matt Damon spy thriller series which made him an A-list star and revitalised action movies for the new millennium.

Damon plays a young American lost at sea with no memory of who or where he is. But when he’s cornered by authorities, latent combat instincts kick in and he comes to the attention of spy bosses who want him taken out.

Neighbours

In the late 80s and 90s, Ian Smith’s lovable Erinsboro do-gooder Harold Bishop was one of the best known characters in soaps. But not long after he’d married Madge Ramsay — the love of his life — in 1991 he was cruelly swept out to sea. https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ZEhWykfw1Dk?rel=0

Five years later the actor returned to the show, and was known as Ted after losing his memory. Like a less violent Bourne, his instincts kicked in and he worked with the Salvation Army before regaining his memory thanks to frenemy Lou Carpenter.

Dead Again

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/vVt2h_UMnr0?rel=0

Kenneth Branagh made his big Hollywood debut with this brilliant Hitchockian, and super twisty, effort that’s definitely worth checking out. He and then-wife Emma Thompson starred in the great 1991 thriller about a private detective who helps out a woman with memory loss, but finds out through hypnosis that she may be connected to a brutal murder in a past life.

Regarding Henry

1991 was clearly the memory loss golden age. Harrison Ford plays a slick-suited shark of a lawyer, who is a terrible father and husband until he is shot during a corner shop robbery.

When he wakes up, he has lost his memory, and has to learn to walk and read again – and try to rebuild his family with wife Annette Bening without slipping into his old life.

Memento

The 2000 thriller announced former Neighbours star Guy Pearce as a proper Hollywood player, building on the success of the previous year’s LA Confidential. The film, told in reverse, tells the story of an amnesiac man covered in tattoos and surrounded by notes and Polaroids as he tries to piece together the story of his wife’s death. 

It also announced Christopher Nolan as the most exciting new director in the business.

Blindspot

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/yBdlnUilB8M?rel=0

Thor warrior woman Jaime Alexander is the star of this brilliant US thriller series about a woman who’s found in the middle of New York with no memory, but is covered in a series of tattoos which include clues to her back story and various crimes they must solve.

The tattoos are reminiscent of the Memento look, but the series works really well and lasted for five seasons, with the story completed before its eventual cancellation in 2019.

Close to Me

Connie Nielsen plays a mum who’s found unconscious at the foot of her stairs one day and has to piece together her life after discovering she has lost her memories of the whole previous year.

She has to work out how she fell, who she can trust and what part husband Christopher Eccleston played in it all.

Amnesia

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/eSri4WB-A_M?rel=0

This 2004 drama mini series starred John Hannah as a detective who is surrounded by memory loss after his wife disappears. Not only is his own recollection of that a bit foggy, but he encounters a man who may have killed his own wife and child but now has amnesia. An experimental memory treatment may provide more answers and more questions.

Samantha Who?

Christina Applegate had loads of fun in this comic take on the memory loss genre, as she plays a business executive who’s left without a clue who she is after a hit and run car accident.

She has to piece together her life with her friends and family and comically finds that she’s not always been the nicest person to work or live with. The series ran from 2007 to 2009 and also starred Jennifer Esposito and a pre-Bridesmaids Melissa McCarthy.

Luke O’Reilly, PAThu, 6 January 2022, 8:42 pm

A body recovered from the River Thames is missing 20-year-old Harvey Parker, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed.

The force was alerted to reports of a body in the Thames near Embankment, central London, by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution at 11.51am on Tuesday.

Mr Parker was last seen on Friday after leaving Heaven nightclub near Charing Cross railway station in Westminster, central London, at about 2.15am.

Officers from the Met’s marine support unit recovered the body.

Detective Chief Inspector Lucy O’Connor, of the Central South Command Unit, said: “We are providing Harvey’s family with all the available information.

“We are also asking for media to please respect the family’s privacy at this challenging and difficult time.”

CCTV footage showed Mr Parker walking into Craven Street and then south towards the Embankment, and he has not been seen since.

A friend said the University of York music student had been to a Little Simz concert in Brixton, south London, before going to the nightclub.

On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said that investigators had viewed CCTV near the Golden Jubilee Bridge and believe Mr Parker, who is a member of front of house staff at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, may have entered the water there.

The force said that there was nothing to suggest anyone else was involved.

A Russian submarine collided with a British warship’s sonar as it was tracking its movements in the North Atlantic, in the first collision between Russian and Royal Navy vessels since the end of the Cold War.

Following the collision in late 2020, HMS Northumberland was forced to abort its 48-hour mission to find the Russian submarine by using a towed array sonar.

The device, which uses hundreds of microphones attached to a cable, was trailed behind the Type 23 frigate in order to subtly detect submarines. However, it was damaged to such an extent that the warship had to return to port in order for the sonar to be replaced.

One Navy source told The Telegraph that the noise made when the submarine collided with the towed array would have been so powerful that “they probably would have scared themselves shitless when they did it”.

They added that the probability of a submarine hitting the towed array was “infinitely tiny”.

“The ocean is a huge place and the towed body is so small that the likelihood of interaction is so low, this is just unfortunate and unintentional. The Russians would not have tried to do this on purpose.”

After the incident crew launched a Merlin helicopter to try and find the submarine.

Footage captures moment crew spot Russian submarine’s periscope

The collision was captured in a Channel 5 documentary for its series Warship: Life at Sea.

The footage captures the moment the crew spot what they think is a Russian submarine’s periscope and a communication mast peaking above the surface of the water.

Commander Thom Hobbs, the warship’s captain, is heard on camera saying: “We are very close to the submarine — we are probably parallel. If they were on the surface we would definitely see faces.”

The submarine then turns sharply in what was described as an “aggressive move”.

Russian threat to national undersea communications ‘is real’

Former frigate captain Commander Tom Sharpe told The Telegraph that the “Russian threat to our national undersea communications is real, on our doorstep and ever increasing”.

“It’s hard to overstate the effect a major disruption of it would cause,” he said, adding that while “forcing the ship to return to port for array repairs would be a significant escalation” it was “ultimately fruitless because all that happens then is the rest of the team closes in and carries on the mission”.

While Navy sources insisted there was nothing to suggest the collision was “deliberate”, Mr Sharpe cautioned that “it’s unlikely that a T23, even running in silent mode, would be totally invisible to the Russian sub”. However, he added it was “perfectly possible that the sub didn’t know exactly where the ship was and in which direction it was heading”.

News of the incident came as Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, told the House of Commons that “the free world must rise” to meet the threats from Russia.

Moscow has massed 100,000 troops with tanks and missiles batteries in a threat to invade Ukraine.

She told MPs: “Any Russian military incursion would be a massive strategic mistake.

“Russia is the aggressor here – we urge them to end their malign activity and stick to what they have agreed.

“The only way forward is for Russia to de-escalate and pursue a path of diplomacy.

“The free world must rise to meet this moment.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “In late 2020 a Russian submarine being tracked by HMS Northumberland came into contact with her towed array sonar.

“The Royal Navy regularly tracks foreign ships and submarines in order to ensure the defence of the United Kingdom.”

Boris Johnson is facing renewed criticism over the funding of his Downing Street flat refurbishment after his own ethics adviser condemned the “extraordinary” failure to hand over key messages during his investigation.

The prime minister offered a “humble and sincere apology” to Lord Geidt – blaming a new mobile phone number for his failure to recall his exchange with Tory donor who offered to pay for the work.

So what exactly do we know about the messages, the funding arrangements behind the refurb, and the various attempts to get to the bottom of the row? The Independent took a closer look at the timeline of the scandal’s incredible twists and turns.

November 2020

Mr Johnson and his partner Carrie wanted to have renovation work carried out on their private flat at 11 Downing Street. The PM contacted to Tory donor Lord Brownlow ask about paying for planned work by interior designer Lulu Lytle.

In these messages – released for the first time this week – Mr Johnson told Lord Brownlow: “I am afraid parts of our flat are still a bit of a tip and am keen to allow Lulu Lytle to get on with it. Can I possibly ask her to get in touch with you for approvals?”

Lord Brownlow – who had been planning to set up a trust to fund the refurb, but ended up initially providing the costs – told Mr Johnson: “Of course, get Lulu to call me and we’ll get it sorted ASAP!”

The Tory donor added: “I should have said, as the trust isn’t set up yet (will be in January) approval is a doddle as it’s only me and I know where the £ will come from, so as soon as Lulu calls we can crack on.”

February 2021

Media reports emerge about the funding of Mr Johnson’s lavish new wallpaper and other furnishings – featuring claims that some additional payments were made through the Conservative party and had not been properly declared

It became clear that Mr Johnson’s flat refurb had exceeded the annual public grant of up to £30,000 any prime minister can spend on renovations, and that there had been discussions about a Downing Street Trust being set up to pay for the work. But No 10 initially insisted that Johnson had met all the costs of the work personally.

April 2021

A leaked email from Tory donor Brownlow to the party’s co-chair from October 2020 showed he was making donations “to cover the payments the party has already made on behalf of the soon to be formed Downing Street trust”.

Mr Johnson’s former adviser Dominic Cummings claimed the PM had planned to have Tory donors “secretly pay” for the work – claiming he had warned against the “unethical, foolish, possibly illegal” funding plan.

But the prime minister insisted he had “covered the costs” of the renovations himself, after he was challenged by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs. The same month, the Electoral Commission announced an investigation into the matter.

May 2021

Mr Johnson’s adviser on ministers’ interests Lord Geidt announced that he had cleared the prime minister of breaching the ministerial code after his own investigation.

In a harsh warning, Lord Geidt ruled that the PM had “unwisely” allowed the refurbishment of his flat to go ahead without “more rigorous regard for how this would be funded”.

The adviser also said Mr Johnson had assured him he had no knowledge of the payments until immediately prior to media reports in February 2021.

December 2021

The Electoral Commission ruled that the Conservative Party broke electoral laws over the controversial funding of Mr Johnson’s flat refurbishment – announcing that reporting and recording laws were not followed and handing the party a £17,800 fine.

The electoral watchdog also said that in November 2020, Mr Johnson had sent a WhatsApp message to Lord Brownlow “asking him to authorise further … refurbishment works on the residence” – suggesting Lord Geidt had been misled.

The investigation found a total of £112,549 had been paid by Huntswood Associates – whose director is Tory donor Lord Brownlow – to cover the refurbishment work by Soane Britain, which is owned by interior designer Lulu Lytle.

The Conservatives were negligent in failing to fully report a donation of just over £67,801 from Huntswood Associates Limited, while a separate sum from Lord Brownlow’s company connected to the costs of the was “not reported as required”.

The Tory Party had provided a “bridging loan” of £52,802 to the Cabinet Office for the refurbishment, before it was reimbursed by Lord Brownlow.

The probe also found that in March 2020, Mr Johnson paid £112,549 to the supplier himself, so the supplier was able to return money received from Lord Brownlow and the Cabinet Office.

January 2022

Ethics adviser Lord Geidt attacked the failure to provide his investigation “with all the material” behind the funding, as an exchange of letters with Mr Johnson was released.

Lord Geidt describes the omission of the prime minister’s communication with Lord Brownlow back in November 2020 as “extraordinary”. The prime minister offered a “humble and sincere apology” for a mix-up he blamed on replacing his phone number due to “security issues”.

Labour said the PM’s “pathetic excuses will fool no one”. Deputy leader Angela Rayner said it was “simply impossible to read these exchanges” and conclude Mr Johnson had not broken the ministerial code.

Mr Johnson now faces the threat of a further inquiry by the parliamentary commissioner for standards. Questions remain about how Mr Johnson ultimately paid back the £112,549 needed for the renovations.

The PM also faces new questions about Lord Brownlow’s idea for a national exhibition. He told the Tory donor he was “on the great exhibition plan”, the latest release of messages revealed.

Two months later, Lord Brownlow joined a meeting with the culture secretary “to discuss plans for Great Exhibition 2.0” – a showcase of British innovation later renamed Festival UK.

Eight in 10 of the worst areas in England for booster take-up are in London, the latest data shows.

According to NHS England, Newham has the country’s worst booster rate at 38.5% for over 18s.

The highest take-up rate is the Cotswolds, with 83%.

The only places not in London in the top 10 for worst booster take-up are Nottingham at 42.8% and Manchester at 45.7%.

Big cities feature prominently in the lowest ranks of booster numbers, with both Birmingham (46.9%) and Liverpool (46.9%) appearing in the top 20 as well as several more London boroughs.

Only 20 local authorities in England have less than 50%.

The top 10 local authorities with the worst booster take up are:

1. Newham – 38.50%
2. Tower Hamlets – 38.60%
3. Barking and Dagenham – 39.20%
4. Westminster – 40.30%
5. City of London/Hackney – 41.70%
6. Nottingham – 42.80%
7. Camden – 43.00%
8. Islington – 43.90%
9. Manchester – 45.70%
10. Waltham Forest – 46.70%

The figures come as the prime minister criticised anti-vaccination “mumbo jumbo” on a trip to a vaccine centre in Northampton.

Johnson said a voluntary approach to vaccination will remain, amid what he called other countries’ “coercion”, as he delivered a broadside against those spreading “nonsense”.

Around 60% of the population aged 12 and above in the UK have had a booster jab and more than 90% have had at least one dose.

Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to a vaccination centre in Moulton Park, Northampton, the PM said: “I want to say to the anti-vax campaigners, the people who are putting this mumbo jumbo on social media: they are completely wrong.

“You haven’t heard me say that before, because I think it’s important we have a voluntary approach in this country and we’re going to keep a voluntary approach.”

Johnson said other European countries are going for “coercion”, and added: “What a tragedy that we’ve got all this pressure on the NHS, all the difficulties that our doctors and nurses are experiencing, and we’ve got people out there spouting complete nonsense about vaccination.

“They are totally wrong, and I think it’s time that I, the Government, call them out on what they’re doing.

“It’s absolutely wrong, it’s totally counter-productive, and the stuff they’re putting out on social media is complete mumbo jumbo.”

The vaccine rollout has successfully reached tens of millions of people, with a ramping up of the booster programme in recent weeks as Omicron cases surge.

However, an estimated 4.5 million people aged 18 and over in the UK have not had a first dose, more than six million people are not double jabbed, and almost nine million eligible people have not had a booster.

EXCLUSIVE UPDATED: Once again, Tyler Perry is not waiting for the entertainment industry to adopt a uniform policy and has introduced a mandate requiring vaccinations for casts and crews in Zone A of shows at his Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.

The return-to-work protocols agreed upon by the Hollywood unions and major studios in June 2021 — and since extended — stopped short of mandating vaccinations. Instead, they gave producers “the option to implement mandatory vaccination policies for casts and crew in Zone A on a production-by-production basis.”

Since then, Netflix and Disney adopted a blanket policy for their U.S. productions, requiring vaccinations for everyone working in Zone A, which consists of the actors and those who come in close proximity to them. The other studios have done it on a show-by-show basis.

Tyler Perry Studios this week notified casts and crews that all actors as well as crew members who interact with them have to be fully vaccinated (that includes a booster if the person is eligible.)

BET

I hear the decision was made after Perry attempted to start production on a soon-to-be-officially-greenlighted second season of his BET+ series All the Queen’s Men. The shoot, scheduled for before the holidays, was pushed to Jan. 10 after the number of positive tests shot up from 0 to 16 during the routine pre-production testing, sources said. (Because of the ongoing Covid surge spurred by the highly contagious Omicron variant, start of production has since been delayed to Jan. 31.)

The experience with the postponed shoot was noted in the letter sent to cast and crew, informing them of the new vaccine policy, I hear. According to sources, the requirement will be strictly enforced, with TPS independently verifying vaccination status due to widespread reports of fake vaccination cards, including on Hollywood productions.

Perry has been an early proponent of Covid vaccines. The uber producer got vaccinated in January 2021 and urged his fans to get the jab on social media, in interviews and through his BET special, Covid-19 Vaccine and the Black Community A Tyler Perry Special,

He held a vaccination drive at TPS in April 2021 when he reported that 55% of his crew had received at least one doze and encouraged Americans to get vaccinated. The percentage of his casts that have been fully vaccinated is now 95%, somewhat lower for the crews, sources said.

Production shutdowns over Covid cases is costly. The agreement between studios and unions initially called for a 14-day suspension of filming over positive tests in Zone A. That time has recently gone down to 5-7 days in some cases following CDC’s new guidance for a shorter isolation and quarantine period that has been creating confusion. Still, for an independent studio like TPS, which films an entire season of a show in about two weeks, this represents a major disruption, prompting Perry to act.

“Between the conflicting rules of the CDC and the unions, as an independent studio it’s difficult to navigate and operate efficiently,” he told Deadline. “I wish they were on the same page, but I also understand the complexities of a pandemic that changes daily.”

TPS

Perry also stepped up early in the pandemic. He was one of the first producers to come up with a comprehensive plan to safely restart TV production in April 2020. Perry got filming up and running by mid-July, employing a quarantine bubble model, in which cast and crew are sequestered on the lot for the duration of a shoot. He created extensive safety and testing protocols before there were any; the industry followed months later. Perry ended the quarantine bubble in April 2021 after the majority of his casts and crews received vaccines.

The ViacomCBS series from Perry which film at his TPS also include Sistas, The Oval, Bruh, Ruthless, Assisted Living and Young Dylan.