Astrologer Russell Grant was voted off the show on Sunday after his delight at making it to Wembley Arena, where he and his partner Flavia Cacace danced to S Club Seven’s Reach for the Stars in front of a live audience of 6,000.  This makes them the seventh couple to leave Strictly 2011.

Despite his routine starting with him being fired from a cannon and then doing some pretty energetic jiving for a man of his size, the judges gave Russell a score of just 24.  Although judge Alesha Dixon, did say that his entrance was the best she had seen on the show.  She added: “What you lacked in your jive technique tonight you more than made up for in entertainment, Russell, and I love you.”  Craig’s comment of “Dumbo springs to mind” was slightly less flattering and drew the usual jeers and boo’s from the audience who had given Russell a standing ovation after his performance.
Showman Russell was a popular contestant on the show and initially surprised everyone with his nifty footwork and great rhythm.  Unfortunately his size prevented him from competing with the younger, fitter contestants when it came to lifts and more strenuous moves.  He has, however, reportedly lost a lot of weight since his training began which has got to be a healthier way to slim down and cheaper than a gastric balloon cost.

Surprisingly Aussie singer Holly Valance and Artem Chigvintsev – who scored 31 and were fifth on the leader board – landed in the bottom two with astrologer Russell and Flavia, but the Australian beauty and her Russian professional partner lived to dance another day.

Week 8 had Alex and James rising to joint first place on the leaderboard along with Chelsee and Pasha scoring 35 points each. They were closely followed by Harry and Aliona also in joint second place with Jason and Kristina, both scoring 34 points. The competition now heats up, as the seven remaining couples will have to dance twice in the remaining shows.

Meanwhile Eastenders star Charlie Brooks, who plays scheming Janine Butcher in the show, is in rehearsals for the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special to be aired on Christmas day.  Charlie is apparently a big fan of the show but has been unable to commit to a full series because her storylines in Eastenders keep her too busy, so an appearance on the Christmas Special is perfect for her.

If you belong to the latter group, you are probably somewhat protective of the time that you set aside to watch your favourite shows. In particular, many enthusiastic soap opera fans seem to get very attached to their shows… this is partially because soap operas are designed to appeal deeply to a certain audience that appreciates raw drama and intrigue.

At any rate, if you value your time watching your favourite shows as an entertaining part of your average day, it may be time to look into buying an LED TV from Marks & Spencer, so that you can get even more out of your viewing experience.

It is quite easy to allow a television set to become outdated… unless your television specifically breaks or slows down in its performance, odds are that you treat it much like a piece of furniture. The TV is a part of whatever room it is in, and it doesn’t always cross people’s minds to look for upgrades. So, instead, try to think of your television less as furniture and more as exactly what it is: a technological machine; and, much like cellular phones or computers, televisions are being improved upon and upgraded almost constantly.

The flat screen phenomenon essentially started with the widespread introduction of plasma televisions in electronics stores. In the beginning, these TVs were considered a bit high-end, and were generally very large and extremely expensive. However, as the market has grown and production has increased over the years, more options have become available for people who want flat screen televisions, and the prices for these machines have in many cases come down significantly.

These days, the best televisions available are often what are called LED TVs, which combine an LED backlighting system with the LCD display technology to bring you the clearest and most brightly coloured television picture in existence. Of course, the larger and newer LED televisions are still quite expensive, and are generally reserved for people who either have spare money to spend or take their television quality extremely seriously. However, if you are simply looking to upgrade your television in order to get a bit more satisfaction out of your daily viewing experience, there are certainly many appealing flat screen options out there for you. The right television can make your favourite shows even more pleasurable to you.

Eastenders: The Moon Family - Anthony (Matt Lapinskas), Eddie (David Essex) and Tyler (Tony Discipline) - photo: BBC

Tony Discipline and Matt Lapinskas will join Eastenders as brothers in the Moon family.  They will join father Eddie, played by David Essex, later this year.

Tyler will be first to arrive in Albert Square looking for his Dad, shortly followed by older brother, Anthony.

Tyler is a bit of a lad who lives for the weekend and is one of those characters who seems to find trouble wherever he goes.  A fair share of his trouble comes from women. The two brothers share similar traits though viewers will soon see that Tyler has a short fuse when faced with trouble.

An Eastenders source revealed: “Where Tyler is quick to use his fist to sort things out, Anthony will rely on his brains and natural wit to find a more sensitive solution to any conflict. The two new Moons are a couple of likely lads who are more than likely to cause a stir in Albert Square.”

Speaking of his casting as Tyler, Discipline commented: “It’s really exciting to be able to work on a show that you have grown up watching and have followed your whole life. I am very grateful to be given this opportunity and am looking forward to working on the show and becoming an East-ender!”

While Lapinskas said of his new role as Anthony: “I’m absolutely over the moon! It’s has been my lifetime ambition to be on EastEnders – I have watched it growing up with my nan, who is a big fan. I’m so pleased to get my first TV role, I just didn’t believe it would be so big. I’ve met some of the cast I will be working with who were very friendly and welcoming and I can’t wait to start filming.”

Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960 and is still going strong today, over 50 years later.  The only remaining character from the first episode is Ken Barlow, played by William (Bill) Roache.

Originally the show was not a critical success receiving some poor reviews which apparently left  Granada Television considering whether to continue with the originally planned 13 episodes.  But the soap was an instant success with British TV viewers who were drawn to Coronation Street’s ‘ordinary’ characters.

The programme was instrumental in raising the profile of local dialect on national television, something revolutionary in the early 1960’s.  Local slang such as “eh, chook?”, “nowt” and “by heck!” were heard on a national television show for the first time.

In March 1961, Coronation Street reached No.1 in the television ratings and remained there for the rest of the year.  The critics were wrong.  TV viewers loved Coronation Street which was broadcast around the UK by the new ITV network and was receiving 15 million viewers each episode; and by 1964 the programme had over 20 million regular viewers.  The TV soap has remained popular even with the advent of other shows and new ways to watch television such as online streaming and services such as Catch Up TV.

Listening to Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs recently Betty Driver told Kirsty Young how she received a call from the producers to play the barmaid in Coronation Street’s pub the Rovers Return.  She was currently not working on the stage and was instead running her own pub.  She had previously auditioned for the part as Hilda Ogden in 1964 but that role went to Jean Alexander.  But in 1969 she began what she thought was going to be a short stint of about six episodes as Betty Turpin the cuddly barmaid, married to a policeman and known for her homemade Lancashire Hot Pot, served every day in the most famous pub in the world, The Rovers Return.

Betty confessed on Desert Island Discs that she has never made a Hot Pot in real life and is a complete disaster in the kitchen.  Rather amusing, considering “Betty’s Hot Pot” is also sold in British supermarkets!

In May 2010 Betty Driver was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Soap Awards. Thirty-two years later she is the longest serving barmaid in the Rovers Return and continues to pull pints and cook Hot Pot in Coronation Street in Weatherfield, somewhere in the North West England.

Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent)

In this week’s Coronation Street, sulky Sophie Webster perks up when her lesbian lover Sian finally returns from a holiday abroad, but things soon turn sour when Sian says that she is going to move back to her mothers house to live.

Be prepared for a week of even more attitude from the little girl Webster as her sulky tantrums turn into suspicion that Sian is seeing someone else.

The two girls end up having a massive argument and unsurprisingly Sophie loses it altogether. Don’t miss Friday’s episode of Corrie when a drunk, distraught and desperate Sophie falls from a church roof, building the tension to fever pitch as she is left in a critical condition.

Gavin spent eight years working on the two soaps, starting at Emmerdale in 2002 as the shows senior publicist before switching to Coronation Street in 2005 where he progressed to assistant producer. Gavin returned to Emmerdale in 2009 as Series Producer, creating exciting new characters and storylines that resulted in a massive upsurge in viewers.

Danny Miller (Aaron Livesy) will captain the Emmerdale team, he says of Gavin;

“Gavin Blyth was an inspirational and passionate producer. But not only that, he was a fantastic man, father, mentor, and friend who was like a brother to me and so many others. He’s left a giant hole at Emmerdale so we want to remember Gavin by having a match against the lads from Coronation Street which should be a great day celebrating his life, and raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support. The ground can hold 3,000 people and we want every seat filled to cheer us on, and to help a fantastic charity that does so much to help people affected by cancer. Naturally, Emmerdale is going to win!”

Jamie Strachan, Fundraising Manager for Macmillan in Leeds said: “Emmerdale has been a fantastic Macmillan supporter for a number of years, but Danny has done a superb job organising this match in memory of Gavin. He meant so much to so many and it’s a way for cast and crew of Emmerdale and Coronation Street to honour his memory whilst raising money for Macmillan to ensure we can help more people living with or affected by cancer.”

The Gavin Blyth Memorial Cup charity football match kicks off at 1pm at the Manchester Regional Sprorts Arena on Saturday February 19th.

Tickets, payable at the gate, are priced £8 for adults and £4 for children or a family ticket (two adults and two children) available for £20 with all proceeds going to Macmillan. Turnstiles will open at 12noon ahead of a 1pm kick off. Fans will have the opportunity to get autographs and photographs with their favourite cast members after the game.

The teams:

Emmerdale
Danny Miller (Captain) – Aaron Livesy
Lyndon Ogbourne – Nathan Wylde
Adam Thomas – Adam Barton
James Thornton – John Barton
James Sutton – Ryan Lamb
James Hooton – Sam Dingle
Kelvin Fletcher – Andy Sugden
Tony Audenshaw – Bob Hope
Marc Silcock – Jackson Walsh
Mark Charnock – Marlon Dingle
Tom Lister – Carl King
Dominic Brunt – Paddy Kirk
Jeff Hordley – Cain Dingle

Coronation Street
Ryan Thomas (Captain) – Jason Grimshaw
Jack P Shepherd – David Platt
Alan Halsall – Tyrone Dobbs
Michael le Vell – Kevin Webster
Sam Aston – Chesney Battersby-Brown
Steven Arnold – Ashley Peacock
Andrew Whyment – Kirk Sutherland
Ben Price – Nick Tilsley
Graeme Hawley – John Stape

Venue:
The Manchester Regional Sports Arena,
Rowsley Street,
Manchester,
M11 3FF
About Macmillan Cancer Support
Macmillan Cancer Support improves the lives of people affected by cancer, providing practical, medical, emotional and financial support. Working alongside people affected by cancer, Macmillan works to improve cancer care. One in three of us will get cancer. Two million of us are living with it. If you are affected by cancer Macmillan can help.

Visit the Macmillan site for more information.

rosie webster

It always seem a little strange to me how the top UK soaps seem to mirror their rivals storylines from time to time and although this one  coming up on Coronation Street on Friday is very different to the current Eastenders storyline, it does still involve a mix up with babies.

Rosie Webster moved out of the family house in December to live with boyfriend Jason Grimshaw because she couldn’t stand being in the same house as her father and his baby by Molly Dobbs.

However, according to the Sun’s Buzz magazine Rosie Webster suddenly takes a shine to her dad’s love child, her half brother, recently born babyJack, after being put forward for a Mother and baby photo shoot.

Unsuspecting Dad, Kevin Webster believes that his eldest daughter has come round to the fact that she has a little brother, having told him that she would like to spend more time with the little chap.

The smile is soon wiped off his face and his grimace returns when Rosie arrives back from the photo shoot with the wrong baby!

kim thomson as faye lamb

Kim Thomson says she will leave the cast of Emmerdale when her contract expires shortly, claiming that she has grown tired of living so far away from her home in London.

The actress who plays Faye Lamb in the Yorkshire Dales based soap says that she will be sad to leave Emmerdale after two years working with the cast and crew, but misses her family and friends in London and will be glad to settle back into a normal life there.

Since first appearing on the show in early 2009 Thomson spends all week in Yorkshire and with travelling to and fro between the set and her home at weekends she barely manages to get 24 hours a week to spend in London.

While she is reluctant to give any details about her on screen exit from the soap, Thomson told Take it Easy magazine that in traditional Emmerdale style she expects it will be dramatic.

She added that she had enjoyed her time on Emmerdale, “They’re a lovely crowd, great crew and actors and it’s been a pleasure working with them.”

In her role as Faye Lamb she has also enjoyed being able to ‘go around slapping other women’ and says “There was a lot of slapping. I’ve enjoyed being slappee and slapper!”

Arriving at the church  looking stunning in an ivory dress Leanne appears totally unaware of what the day holds in store for her.

It seems that Peter has found out about Leanne’s affair with Nick Tilsley and has arranged the blessing simply to humiliate his new wife.

There are further unconfirmed rumours that the day ends with Peter Barlow taking his revenge on Nick Tilsley with an iron bar, so it sounds like just another day on this most famous of Street’s!

steve arnold as ashley peacock

Poor old Steven Arnold was voted off this weeks Dancing on Ice series following one of the worst routines ever, in which the former Coronation Street actor scored just seven points out of a possible 30.

Arnold’s alter ego Ashley Peacock was recently written out of the soap in recent weeks, having been killed in the infamous tram crash and after watching the actor’s attempts at dancing on ice, you immediately got the feeling that his skating career was already on a slippery slope, another crash waiting to happen.

Unlike the recent X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing results where a wierd strategy employed by voters meant that the weakest competitors stayed in the show, I can only imagine for the laugh factor, there was no such safety net for Arnold and he was quite rightly voted off the show.

Arnold found himself among the two contestants with the lowest votes in the final part of Sunday’s show alongside Dominic Cork, but while Cork managed to pull something out of the bag with his routine, Arnold had nothing more to offer and looked totally ill at ease with the whole thing.

I can only assume that he will be relieved not to have to return to the show for yet another week of humiliation.