The Trial review — could this parental nightmare revive the one-off drama?
The Trial was the first of 5's new single-drama strand evoking, for those of us decrepit enough to remember, the BBC's Play for Today, a kitemark for quality writing. It's a great idea to revive a format that brought us such TV gold as Blue Remembered Hills, Scum and Abigail's Party, and this
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The Sun
3 minutes ago
- The Sun
Cruz and Romeo Beckham show off family's £16m superyacht as they pose with dad David – after blocking Brooklyn in feud
CRUZ and Romeo Beckham posed alongside dad David as they showed off their family's £16m superyacht. The family trio all looked in good spirits as they soaked up the sun together. 5 5 Taking to Instagram, Cruz shared a series of snaps including on the superyacht. He captioned the post: "Sorry I don't have more speedos pictures." He was joined in the snap by brother Romeo and While a third chimed in: "Lovely picture with your brother." It comes as eldest son Brooklyn, 26, and wife Nicola Peltz, 30, have reportedly been keeping their distance from his family, This originated after they failed to attend David's 50th birthday party earlier this year. The Sun revealed Brooklyn and Nicola were left "blindsided" after Romeo and Cruz seemingly blocked them on social media. It was initially thought that Brooklyn and Nicola had unfollowed his younger siblings but those close to the couple said this was not true. A friend said: 'Brooklyn had no idea about any of this until he read about it online. 'It's possible Romeo and Cruz blocked them, which would make it appear as no longer following the brothers 'They certainly didn't unfollow them or block them - they're as confused as anyone else. 'The first they heard about it was when it was being reported on.' The Beckham Family Feud April 2022: Brooklyn marries Nicola Peltz. Wedding Dress Controversy: Rumours begin circulating that there's tension between Nicola and Victoria Beckham after Nicola chooses not to wear a Victoria Beckham -designed wedding gown. Nicola later clarifies in August 2022 (and again in March 2023) that Victoria's atelier couldn't make the dress in time, but reports in May 2025 suggest Victoria actually changed her mind about making the dress. Post-Wedding (2022 onwards): Minimal interaction between Nicola and Victoria on social media, and noticeable absence of Nicola at key Beckham family events. Alleged Wedding "Hijack": In May 2025, a source claimed Victoria "ruined" part of the wedding by allegedly hijacking a dance with Marc Anthony, which was meant for Brooklyn and Nicola. Nicola reportedly ran from the room crying. March 2025: A resurfaced TikTok of Romeo and Cruz mimicking a "baby voice" (which fans associate with Nicola) sparks speculation of sibling shade. April 2025: Brooklyn and Nicola are reportedly absent from Victoria Beckham's 51st birthday celebrations in Miami and her Paris Fashion Week show. May 2025: David Beckham's 50th Birthday Snub: Brooklyn and Nicola are notably absent from David Beckham's 50th birthday celebrations in London, despite being invited. Reports suggest their absence was due to Brooklyn not wanting to be in the same room as Kim Turnbull, the girlfriend of Romeo who had previously been reported to have been dating Brooklyn, who David allegedly opted to have at the party over Nicola. Rumours emerge of a falling out between Brooklyn and his younger brother Romeo, reportedly due to Romeo's new girlfriend, DJ Kim Turnbull, who allegedly had a past connection with Brooklyn. Reports surface that the Beckham parents are "hurt and disappointed" that Brooklyn is "playing no part in family life." Sources claim that tensions between Brooklyn and Nicola and his parents are "definitely not beyond repair." June 2025: Brooklyn and Nicola reportedly enlist a "crisis team" similar to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for "reputation management" due to the growing media scrutiny. Cruz Beckham posts cryptic lyrics on Instagram that some interpret as a swipe at Brooklyn. July 2025: Reports indicate David and Victoria are "desperate" to reconcile with Brooklyn. Brooklyn publicly wishes his sister Harper a happy 14th birthday on Instagram, tagging Nicola, which is seen as a potential "olive branch" and a rare public message to his family amid the rumored rift. Brooklyn UNFOLLOWS his brothers Romeo and Cruz just 24 hours after his birthday message to Harper. Nicola quickly follows suit and also ditches the Beckham bros from her Instagram following. Romeo and Cruz are now also no longer following Brooklyn. 5
Daily Mail
3 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
He's shredded! Brian Cox delivers a VERY public flogging for Britain's most odious banker
In days gone by there were designated areas in Scotland's capital for public floggings – the Grassmarket for example, or Mercat Cross. These ritual spankings were administered on behalf of the good people who, in their outrage at transgressions beyond the pale, demanded brutal satisfaction. Few of us may have the stomach for them today. But a 21st century spanking is taking place nightly in Edinburgh a short walk from the spots where the old ones used to happen. The new location is the Festival Theatre. There's scarcely a spare seat to be had. Granted, the villain of the piece – a Mr Fred Goodwin – takes his beating in absentia, although he would be welcome to buy a ticket if penitence were his thing, which we know it isn't. But a spanking is what it indubitably is – two hours and 40 minutes of metaphorical thwacks to the bare bottom of Britain's most odious banker. And who does the flogging? Scottish actor Brian Cox, for one – appearing as the ghost of economist Adam Smith and tearing a strip off Fred the Shred. Did we onlookers have the stomach for it? Hell yes. Was there amusement to be had in an early retiree's humiliation before an audience of his hometown peers? We laughed like drains. When it was over, there was a standing ovation. People left the auditorium smiling, brutal satisfaction delivered. That Goodwin fellow? He had it coming. Make it Happen – the title of this 'fictionalised satire' by James Graham – is what the former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief executive used to say when he was delegating. It might be responsibility for redecorating the lobby outside his office with £1,000 a roll wallpaper or having fresh fruit flown in daily from Paris. What he memorably made happen under his own steam was the implosion of a centuries-old bank, the loss of 26,000 employees' jobs and the saddling of the taxpayer with a multi-billion-pound bill. Then he made his exit stage left happen – along with his six-figure pension pot. I caught the play's Edinburgh Festival premiere this week, joining almost 2000 others for a delicious form of revenge therapy. True, not all the charges libelled here are strictly accurate. There is no record of Goodwin actually leaning on Edinburgh's Lord Provost to persuade John Lewis to give up their flagship Scottish to facilitate the expansion of his city centre empire. It may be a stretch to suppose Goodwin sacked an underling simply because she had neither Prime Minister Gordon Brown nor Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling on speed dial. Did Goodwin really tell his mistress 'talk dirty' during stolen moments in flagrante in an office cupboard – and would such dirty talk really have been a stream of banking buzz words? Speculation at best. But, of course, this is fiction – apart from all the stuff that is horrifying fact. Indeed, much of the fun here derives from identifying the line between the two. You may assume it fanciful that, at the crazed height of the Goodwin expansionist era, the bank's assets included a graveyard in the American deep south. It really happened. Is a spot of artistic licence employed in nicknaming the morning meetings with the bullying CEO the 'morning beatings'? Nope. That is how they were known. It all begins inauspiciously enough when a diffident Goodwin arrives for an interview in Edinburgh with RBS CEO George Mathewson who is looking for his heir apparent. Awkward and with west coast, working class vowels, he seems a poor fit. To Edinburgh's preening banking establishment he is a coarse outsider from – horror of horrors – a council estate in Paisley's Ferguslie Park. But Goodwin impresses with his masterplan to stave off takeovers and maintain the bank's proud name: 'To stay independent,' he declares, 'you have to grow …' And so the madness begins. You may wonder how a financial institution's growth era can possibly be reproduced on a bare stage – even why anyone would attempt it. Well, having your cast burst into song seems to help. If it sounds bonkers, you soon remind yourself it is no more bonkers than the events being depicted here. There are ensemble renditions of Adele's Chasing Pavements, of Keane's Somewhere Only We Know and Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out – all contemporaneous with Goodwin's decade of banking megalomania. And if the song Especially for You – a hit for Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan in 1989 – doesn't quite fit the timeline, you delight in hearing Fred the Shred duet on it with the ghost of Adam Smith anyway. Can either Brian Cox or Goodwin actor Sandy Grierson even sing? Barely a note. In a play about hare-brained recklessness that seemed somehow the point. It's the interplay between the pioneering Enlightenment economist and his wrongheaded 21st century devotee that proves the drama's real stroke of genius. Goodwin orders a flunky to source a first edition copy of Smith's seminal work The Wealth of Nations to take pride of place in the RBS HQ and, after it arrives, so does the author in spirit form. 'Where the f*** am I?' wonders Cox, playing Smith, while Goodwin wonders whether the stress of acquisitions has brought on apparitions. On discovering he's in the future, standing in the bank where his 18th century savings are lodged, the great man inquires how they are doing. 'What's your account number?' asks Goodwin. 'Four,' comes the answer. The serious point behind their encounters, of course, is Smith's commentary on the economic vandalism perpetrated in his name by his number one fan. Oops. It turns out Goodwin has misinterpreted virtually every page of the economic bible and, bewilderingly for the author, embarked on a programme of aggressive capitalism. 'You've got me all wrong,' he says, scandalised at Goodwin's insistence that he is the father of modern capitalism. 'I'm not a capitalist. I'm a moral philosopher.' It's a devastating take-down, not just of the banker, but of the fanaticism which can grow from the selective reading of seminal texts. The moral? Pay closer attention. And Cox is superb – a cross between a bumbling great uncle transported to confusing, unfamiliar times and a raging Logan Roy (his character in TV drama succession) driven to distraction by the incompetence of his protégés. 'You f***** idiot,' he snarls at Goodwin as the banking bubble bursts, sounding exactly like his TV media mogul carpeting one of his disaster-prone offspring. Sensibly, Adam Smith sees the writing on the wall and demands to withdraw his savings. Gordon Brown delivers his verdict on the banker too. He calls him an 'utter b******.' Even the mild-mannered Alistair Darling is only marginally less withering. And, bringing the hubristic tale to grass-roots level, we hear from shareholders. One inquires of Goodwin why his salary is 50 times that of typical staff members when the industry standard is six. She reappears later to remind him that figure has risen to 120. It all climaxes, as we knew it surely would, with Goodwin as the demented captain of a vast sinking ship casting around for the billions required to forestall the certain doom which lay only hours away. We know the rest. The knighthood being wrested from him and – after a struggle – a portion of his pension too. The pariah status that followed and the mea culpa which never truly did. And the Festival Theatre audiences surely know the rest better than most. This is a play about their home town's recent history. Edinburgh is a compact city. Goodwin's 'Pleasure Dome' – the flagship branch in St Andrews Square where he did his showing off to the great and the good – is less than a mile away. Gogarburn, the mini-kingdom he had built a stone's throw from the airport, has passed into city legend: the opulence, the private jet, the ocean going self-indulgence… Most in Edinburgh are well aware, too, that Goodwin lives among them still – not too long a walk, in fact, from where we sat hooting and cringing at his outrageous excesses. 'What about due diligence?' a subordinate asks him at one point in the drama. 'F*** due diligence,' comes the uproarious response which we must assume falls on the 'fiction' side of the fence. Except, of course, it now looks broadly true. An uncomfortable week in prospect, then, for the target of this theatrical spanking. Make It Happen runs in Fred Goodwin's home city until August 9. If the 66-year-old is currently in residence then his ears must be burning. I'm fine with that. I didn't see anyone who wasn't.
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
Actress responds to rumours about return of popular crime drama
Vicky McClure commented on the potential return of the BBC crime drama Line of Duty for a seventh season. Her co-star Adrian Dunbar had previously indicated the show was poised to return next year, with writer Jed Mercurio working on a script. Dunbar also mentioned that discussions about the series' future were ongoing with the BBC. McClure, who portrayed DI Kate Fleming, stated simply, "There's nothing to say" when asked about a new series on The One Show. Line of Duty originally aired from 2012 to 2021, concluding with the revelation of the corrupt senior police officer known as "H".
