More than 35 years after his debut hit travel show Around The World In 80 Days, Sir Michael Palin, is bowing out with a final TV adventure across Venezuela.

These days working with Channel 5, globetrotter Palin, now 81, has indicated he expects this to be his “last” major documentary overseas. Having journeyed to Nigeria, Iraq and North Korea in recent years, the star jokes his employers are intent on “taking me to places where I could get killed”.

Michael has a point: the Foreign Office advises against heading to Venezuela

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Beginning his UK tour in Norwich tomorrow, when he’ll discuss his life and times, Nigel Havers has come to regret mischievously calling the stage show “Nigel Havers Talking B*ll*cks”.

“I’m not sure this was a good idea because in every interview that I have done, I’ve been told that we can’t use this word on air,” the old charmer now concedes.

“I seem to hear nothing but four-letter words on the TV these days, so I hadn’t realised that people would mind the b*ll*cks…I am obviously not down with the kids.”

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Rarely off her soapbox, Kirstie Allsopp fumes about seeing “children in prams with phones and iPads,” declaring: “The state needs to step in and help kids and their parents.”

The presenter’s own approach has raised eyebrows in the past, mind: short-fused Kirstie once admitted to “smashing” her two sons’ iPads.

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Releasing a “raw and passionate” memoir this autumn, Sir Anthony Hopkins will finally break his silence regarding fraught relations with his only child Abigail.

While the 56-year-old actress and musician had a small role in Sir Anthony’s hit 1993 film The Remains of the Day, they’re known to have been estranged for over 20 years. Having previously insisted the subject is “taboo”, Hopkins is at last ready to open up about past failings as a father.

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Oddball former Lib Dem MP and ex-Cheeky Girl consort Lembit Opik confirms support for Vladimir Putin, hailing him as a “peace-seeker”. Can anyone arrange a one-way ticket to Moscow?

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The decision by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne to publicly join condemnation of the BBC’s “anti-Israel” coverage proves awkward, seeing as the corporation has also been working on a major TV documentary with the couple for over two years.

Among entertainment industry figures to now sign an open letter condemning the Beeb, after it emerged a controversial Gaza documentary featured the son of a Hamas government minister as narrator, the Osbournes, are signed up appear in upcoming 10-part BBC series Home To Roost, showing them relocating from America back to their native England.

While filming has been taking place since the beginning of 2023, Ozzy’s since thrown a spanner in the works by proving reluctant to swap LA for Buckinghamshire after all.

Though with the formidable Mrs Osbourne still keen on the move, expect Ozzy and Sharon’s BBC collaboration to see the light of day…



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