
Ncuti Gatwa Names '1 Regret' About His Early Doctor Who Exit
After months of speculation, it was finally confirmed back in May that the former Sex Education actor was stepping down as The Doctor, with his character appearing to regenerate into a new Time Lord played by returning Doctor Who star Billie Piper in the latest season finale.
During an appearance on Wednesday's edition of The One Show, host Alex Jones pointed out that Ncuti did have one 'regret' about leaving the franchise so soon, though.
'I never got to fight a Dalek,' he pointed out. 'Or a Cyberman.'
Describing the iconic adversaries as the 'crux of Doctor Who ', he teased: 'So… I might do that. I might fight a Dalek.'
Ncuti played The Doctor for a total of two seasons, the shortest stint in charge of the Tardis since Christopher Eccleston two decades ago.
Last month, the Barbie star admitted to BBC anchor Laura Kuenssberg that he quit the series because 'I'm getting old and my body was tired'.
'It's the most amazing job in the world, a job that any actor would dream of and – because it's so good – it's strenuous,' the 32-year-old said. 'It takes a lot out of you, physically, emotionally, mentally, and so it was time.'
On whether he would ever return to the show, he cryptically responded: 'Never say never.'
With Doctor Who's future still not presently clear, fans are currently debating exactly what Billie's surprise cameo in the series finale means, and whether or not she's really set to portray the Sixteenth Doctor.
A spin-off series, The War Between The Land And The Sea, is also set to air on the BBC later this year, starring Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbathu-Raw, and Jemma Redgrave, reprising her role as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.

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Los Angeles Times
7 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Oasis says they're ‘shocked and saddened' after fan falls to his death at Wembley show
A man fell to his death at the Oasis concert on Saturday at Wembley Stadium, British Metropolitan Police have confirmed. In a statement given to the BBC, officials said they responded to a report that a man in his 40s had been injured at the show around 10:19 p.m. BST. After discovering 'injuries consistent with a fall,' the man was pronounced dead at the scene. 'The stadium was busy, and we believe it is likely a number of people witnessed the incident, or may knowingly or unknowingly have caught it on mobile phone video footage,' officials said. They then called for any information regarding the incident to be reported. It is believed the man fell from the stadium's upper tier. No additional details were added concerning the cause of the fall, though some attendees who witnessed the incident suggested that the man may have slipped. 'So much beer was being thrown throughout the whole concert,' one woman told the Guardian. 'I was surprised they allowed people to bring drinks into the stands. It made the floor really slippy.' Another fan, John, says he saw many fans leaning against the balcony from block 511, where witnesses claim the fall took place. 'There were loads of people who just kept going down to the front and leaning right over. One guy was stopped, but after that, no security came down,' he said. 'There's a rail and a small guard, but it did make me think someone could quite easily get knocked off there.' He was also critical of alcohol consumption at the show, adding that he 'constantly saw people with cardboard cup holders full of pints.' The Times reported on Friday that Oasis fans had drank 250,000 pints of beer during one show at Wembley, breaking a stadium record. Last year's Coldplay gigs saw 120,000 pints sold, and 40,000 for Taylor Swift. Representatives of Wembley Stadium told the BBC that paramedics attempted to revive the man on the scene, but to no avail. 'Despite their efforts, the fan very sadly died.' they said. Oasis addressed the tragedy, telling NME they were 'shocked and saddened' to hear the news. 'Oasis would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the person involved,' they added. The concert was the fourth show in Oasis' quartet of sold-out appearances at Wembley; they'll close out the historical run on Monday. The North American leg of their tour will kick off on Aug. 24 in Toronto and make its way to Los Angeles for two nights at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 6 and 7. The Gallagher brothers shocked the world when they reunited after 15 years, following a widely publicized and bitter fallout in 2009. The reunion rollout began with a teaser video posted on Aug. 25, 2024, on the band's Instagram account. It contained a date and time: '08.27.24, 8 a.m.' It would end up being the official announcement of their 2025 tour. 'This is it,' the band wrote. 'This is happening.'
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘I worked with Steve Wright for 30 years. The BBC has tarnished his legacy'
Later this month, BBC Radio 2 will broadcast a tribute concert for Steve Wright – the adored DJ, who died last February. It will feature the bespoke jingles that were such a crucial part of shows such as Steve Wright in the Afternoon and Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs, but the man behind those jingles, Anthony James, is not involved. Since Wright's death at the age of 69, James says he has been dismayed by the BBC's handling of his friend's legacy – and haunted by what he sees as mistreatment by the corporation in the years leading up to his death. The pair first met in 1986 when James (known professionally as AJ) was a teenager. He had already begun working in local radio, composing unique musical idents for the station's presenters. A fan of Wright's BBC shows, James sent him a 30-second piece of music, with his 'cold pitch' resulting in a phone call to his home soon afterwards. 'My mother picked it up and ran upstairs and said, 'Oh my God, it's Steve Wright on the phone.' I thought it was one of my friends doing a prank,' James reflects, but it was Wright, promising that he would play the tune on his show at 3pm that very afternoon. So began a partnership that James describes as '50-50 friendship, 50-50 like a father figure'. At the outset, Wright appeared to him 'like the Wizard of Oz: he was this great big celebrity on one of the biggest stations in Europe'. When James moved to New York in the late 1990s to continue his career as a composer (still writing around 100 jingles a year across Wright's shows), their friendship continued to develop: 'He would tell me a lot of personal stuff, which was great. But first, he would always want to know what was up with me, what was going on in my world… He was very sensitive, very conscious of how I was doing.' Wright visited James in New York often; they spoke on the phone two or three times a week. He remembers Wright's levity during their calls. 'I miss that, big time. I would always get off the phone with Steve and I'd have laughed so much, because he just found humour in everything.' In the years leading up to his death, however, Wright would suffer a series of personal and professional setbacks. The first came in 2022, when Steve Wright in the Afternoon was axed by the BBC. Wright called a tearful James once the news broke; both saw the move as 'crazy; our numbers [were] through the roof'. Wright admitted that he had been told of its cancellation and sworn to secrecy by the organisation nine months prior, but was reassured by promises made by Helen Thomas, the head of BBC Radio 2, that the show would live on via a yet-to-be-created digital channel. When that prospect began looking increasingly unlikely, Wright approached Tim Davie, the director-general. According to James, Davie told Wright: 'I can't believe she fired you… I wouldn't have fired you myself.' The BBC has, however, denied this. James believes that the axing of Steve Wright in the Afternoon was part of a push to banish broadcasters considered too 'pale, male and stale' from the airwaves, and to create a kind of conformity at direct odds with Wright's verve. 'They just wanted it a little bit more like wallpaper,' he says of Thomas's decision to 'do something different in the afternoons'. 'They thought that this idea of personality [displayed in abundance by Wright] is old style; it's not cool anymore, we should make Radio 2 cool,' he says. 'But who gives a s--- about cool? It's about being entertained.' The effect on Wright was devastating. 'He didn't really stop to accept it. I think it ate him up,' James tells me. 'It got worse, and his health got worse.' Wright had heart surgery a year after the show was axed, and the medication he took in its aftermath led him to put on even more weight. 'He told me, 'I'm just really not well. I'm trying to lose the weight, I think I'm going to have a gastric band.'' James says that Wright also considered using Ozempic. Despite Wright's best attempts to get better, James recalls that: 'There was something about our last meeting [in November 2023]. There was just a look in his eye. I told my partner [afterwards] that something was really wrong.' Then, the following February, Wright died, leaving James overwhelmed with grief. 'I was not on this planet,' he says of that time. The groundswell of public affection went some way to easing his sadness, but that was quickly dismantled by the actions of the BBC. 'The painful truth is that the same BBC leadership celebrating Steve publicly is the one that disregarded and undermined our work privately,' says James. After Wright's death, James feels that they tried to 'delegitimise' his and Wright's relationship. 'I felt disgusted by that,' says James. 'Our relationship was so successful and it lasted for 38 years, and I feel like they're just s---ting on it.' And on Wright himself: a man who attended the studio at nine o'clock each morning to prepare for his afternoon show, and was dedicated to his listeners to the last. In response to questions about the treatment of Wright, the BBC said: 'Steve was deeply loved by the Radio 2 family and listeners, and we all miss him dearly. For almost three decades he hosted a raft of brilliant shows on the network. 'Steve's Sunday Love Songs had been on air since 1996 and he was excited to take on the legendary Pick of the Pops alongside a variety of specials on Radio 2 including Steve Wright: The Best of the Guests, Steve Wright's Summer Nights and Steve Wright's Love Songs Extra on BBC Sounds.' Thomas wrote to James in autumn last year asking for permission to play his music in the BBC tribute concert for Wright, which was recorded earlier this year (ahead of this month's transmission). He agreed, but when he rediscovered a recording of Wright railing at the poor internal handling of his show being axed, 'I just got more and more angry.' James talked through the matter with Wright's son, before telling Thomas that he no longer planned to attend. Then, in the week before the concert, she let him know that 'the great and the good will be there', which James took to mean: don't miss an opportunity to network. 'And I said, 'I'm not f---ing networking; this is not about networking. This is about a tribute to my friend.'' James thinks this last-minute push was driven by fear that his absence would 'look bad' for the BBC. 'It just started stinking towards the end of it, and I thought, 'No, I've given my music, my music will represent me, and that's it. I'm not going,' he says. When I put James's thoughts to the BBC, a spokesman replied: 'When inviting AJ to the recording of the celebration of Steve's broadcast career, where new arrangements of his work would be played live on stage, Helen's sole aim was to make sure AJ did not miss what promised to be, and indeed proved to be, a very special event, with many of Steve's friends and colleagues in attendance.' It is clear that James feels both he and Wright have been wronged by the BBC. The outpouring of affection from fans since Wright's death, compared with what he sees as shoddy treatment by the corporation now openly celebrating him, has made the past 18 months particularly challenging. Wright would have turned 71 on August 26, and his birthday will spark 'very intense' feelings for James as he remembers their friendship and their creative partnership. 'I miss all that,' he says, 'and that makes me very emotional.' Solve the daily Crossword


Cosmopolitan
10 hours ago
- Cosmopolitan
Calvin Harris and Vick Hope announce birth of first child with controversial Instagram post
Presenter and author, Vick Hope, has welcomed her first child with DJ, Calvin Harris, a baby boy named Micah – and the couple have shared some intimate photos of the birth, plus some special post-birth moments, to celebrate. In a post from Calvin's account, re-shared by Vick, a series of images have been posted showing little Micah snuggled up with his dad, Vick and Micah in a birthing pool, and a jumpscare shot of a placenta. Calvin captioned the round-up, "20th of July our boy arrived. Micah is here! My wife is a superhero and I am in complete awe of her primal wisdom! Just so grateful. We love you so much Micah ❤️❤️❤️." As well as the placenta shot, a steamer containing chunks of the placenta was show, along with the organ in its final form: a jar of pills. Some women choose to have the placenta, an organ that develops during pregnancy to nourish the developing baby, turned into pills following the birth, believing they can help support recovery, energy levels, balance hormones and stave off depression. However, strong scientific evidence of this is lacking and it appears to be mostly anecdotal – but hey, absolutely each to their own! Commenting on the post, along with plenty of joyful well wishes, fans picked up on the placenta trilogy of pics, with one popular comment reading, "Placenta and placenta pills were not on my bingo card for today but ok". Another added, "Swiping: "Oh wow!…. That's amazing….. Congratula….. WHAT THE F*CK!?"" Singer Becky Hill also commented, writing, "love to see the placenta!! amazing we grow a whole new organ to provide life! good job not wasting it either, that's some goddess magic right there!" Congrats to Vick and Calvin! Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC's Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women's Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.