BFI To Involve Broadcasting Union Bectu With UK Skills Task Force After Being Accused Of “Disappointing” Snub

Shakin' Stevens has confirmed that the writer of the festive classic Merry Christmas Everyone, has died aged 76. 

Shakin' Stevens has confirmed that the writer of the festive classic Merry Christmas Everyone, has died aged 76. 

It's been almost 13 years since Britain's largest manhunt took place in Northumbria, in a bid to detain gunman Raoul Moat.

Limp Bizkit have announced a massive outdoor gig in London’s Gunnersbury Park for this summer – find full details below.After a show at the capital’s Wembley Arena tonight (April 17), the nu-metal icons will return to London on August 13 to play the massive show.Supporting them at the new gig will be Pendulum, KennyHoopla, Joey Valence & Brae and Deijuvhs.Others to play the summer series at Gunnersbury Park include Boygenius, who will play one of their first UK gigs at the venue alongside MUNA and Ethel Cain.More 2023 shows at the venue come from Kygo, Joji and N-Dubz.Tickets for Limp Bizkit’s new show go on sale on Friday, April 21 from 10am BST.You can buy your tickets here.JUST ANNOUNCED // @limpbizkit will play a HUGE London show with very special guests @Pendulum, @KennyHoopla, @JoeyValence & Brae and @Deijuvhs this August.Tickets for the Gunnersbury Park go on sale at 9am this Friday via

Simon Cowell has spoken out for the first time about David Walliams’ exit from Britain’s Got Talent. It was reported back in November that the comedian had decided to leave the show in the wake of his explosive voice notes being leaked, where David could be heard making derogatory remarks about one of the auditioning contestants. He went on to apologise for his comments, with a BGT source later saying that the BGT panel for the new series of the show – which returns to screens tonight, Saturday 15 April – was “up in the air”.

The British Film Institute (BFI) will hand out $8m (£6.48m) in cash awards to 17 organizations as part of the first run of its new National Lottery Audience Projects Fund.

A new generation of wizards! HBO announced that a new Harry Potter series was officially in the works.

The members of pop group Girls Aloud leaned on one another following the death of Sarah Harding, close friend and former band member Kimberley Walsh has revealed.The English-Irish pop group was formed back in 2002 while on the ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals, with the band being comprised of Kimberley, Sarah, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Cheryl Tweedy.Their first single, Sound of the Underground, cemented their place on the charts, and over the course of their seven years together, they were named the United Kingdom's biggest-selling girl group of the 21st century, with over 4.3 million singles sales and 4 million albums sold in the UK alone.The band split in 2013 and went their separate ways, with each of the women releasing solo work. Sarah died in 2021 at the age of 39 after revealing she had breast cancer which had spread to other parts of her body.

described the film to Collider at the Star Wars Celebration in London Friday. “First being embraced into the family of folk music in New York and then, of course, kind of outrunning them at a certain point as his star rises so beyond belief.” Mangold referenced other characters in the film like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, saying “they all have a role to play in this movie.”And when asked if Chalamet would be singing, Mangold immediately responded “Of course.”The French actor sang “Everything Happens” by Chet Baker in the 2019 Woody Allen film “A Rainy Day in New York,” and he told British Vogue that he would perform seven musical numbers in the upcoming “Wonka,” in which he will star as the iconic candyman character based on Roald Dahl’s book. Chalamet’s role in “Call Me by Your Name” confirmed that he can also play piano and guitar.The untitled film will watch the Nobel Prize-winning singer-songwriter’s first ascend to the top of the folk music scene before he pivots to rock and roll.Chalamet will also be seen in the upcoming “Dune Part 2” alongside Austin Butler (“Elvis”), Florence Pugh, Zendaya and Dave Bautista.

Ben Croll As director Alex Ruhl’s “Rock, Paper, Scissors” continues an international festival tour, the project’s funder has sent out a message to other immersive titles considering public support: BFI Network is open for business. “We are open for all applications, and accepting narrative fiction VR projects,” says BFI Network talent exec Alexzandra Jackson. “I had such a good experience working with Alex [Ruhl] on ‘Rock, Paper, Scissor’ that I would certainly love the opportunity to work on more.” The new and emerging talent arm of the BFI, BFI Network looks to invest in filmmakers outside of London and Southeast England, keeping scouts in a number of English regions and satellite offices in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Since 2018, the development org has held an annual call for projects, offering up to £25,000 ($31,500) for short narrative fiction development titles.

Snoop Dogg showed off his wrestling skills at Wrestlemania last night – delivering ‘The People’s Elbow’ during an in-ring appearance. See footage below.The legendary rapper attended the famous wrestling event on Sunday (April 2), and turned heads by launching a surprise attack on American wrestler, The Miz.Taking place at California’s SoFi stadium, the pay-per-view event saw Snoop bring out Shane McMahon as a surprise competitor for the Ohio-born fighter – whose real name is Michael Gregory Mizanin – but then decided to get involved himself.Not only did the 51-year-old rapper take on the WWE wrestler and dish out a good amount of showboating, he then ended the battle The Rock’s legendary move The People’s Elbow – dropping on him, elbow first.According to TMZ, the announcers declared the event to be “humiliating” for The Miz, who has been part of the WWE world for 20 years now.Hey @TheRock, @SnoopDogg just delivered a #WrestleMania style People's Elbow to @mikethemiz and it was AWESOME!!! pic.twitter.com/H0FiZo30Vw— WWE (@WWE) April 3, 2023This may not be the last time that the ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ rapper makes an appearance on our screens.

Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst has debuted another striking new look as the band played their first gigs of 2023 this week.On Thursday (March 30), the band began their rescheduled UK and European tour in Munich, playing hits from across their career.The show also saw a new wardrobe for Durst, who surprised fans in the summer of 2021 by debuting a dramatic new look that defined the band’s most recent era.While that style revolved around long lighter-coloured hair and a new handlebar moustache, the start of the new tour saw Durst embrace a country aesthetic, wearing dungarees and sporting a short-sleeved shirt, a red beanie and a long beard.See the new look below alongside footage from the Munich show.A post shared by Fred Durst (@freddurst)Loving Fred Durst's new look pic.twitter.com/fYBOqZYZmk— Scott Colothan (@scottcolothan) March 31, 2023Limp Bizkit were initially set to return to the UK last September for a run of dates, including a two-night billing at the O2 Academy Brixton in London. However, those gigs were ultimately postponed due to Durst’s “personal health concerns”.Over the summer, Limp Bizkit told their fans that the frontman had been advised to take an “immediate break from touring” on medical grounds, and said the dates would be rescheduled.After two concerts in Germany, Limp Bizkit are due to make stop-offs in Vienna, Prague, Frankfurt and Tilburg before visiting Manchester on April 12.Tickets for the original 2022 dates remain valid – you can find any remaining tickets (UK) here and see the dates below.APRIL 202312 – Manchester Academy, Manchester 13 – O2 Academy, Birmingham 17 – Wembley Arena, LondonLimp Bizkit released their sixth and latest studio album, ‘Still Sucks’, in October 2021.

NatWest has confirmed that it will be closing their branch inAshton-in-Makerfield, leaving the town ‘disappointed’ now they will only have two banks left. The bank confirmed this decision just six months after announcing they would be closing 43 banks across the UK. The nearest branch to Ashton now will be five miles away on Standishgate, Wigan.

EXCLUSIVE: British visual effects outfit Union is launching its first international studio in Montreal, Canada, as it looks to expand the services it offers its clients in feature film and high-end television. 

K.J. Yossman Former Amazon Studios Europe boss Georgia Brown has revealed her first industry role since leaving the streamer last year. She is set to chair a skills task force for the U.K. screen industry with the intention of focusing on critical labor shortages in the production sector. Joining her on the task force will be senior representatives from major U.K. broadcasters BBC, ITV and Channel 4 as well as international studios and streamers including Prime Video, Netflix, Disney and NBCUniversal, key orgs such as ScreenSkills, PACT and the British Film Commission and national screen agencies. The British Film Institute (BFI) have convened the task force following a skills review commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport showing crew shortfalls will soon reach breaking point. Its remit is to produce and support a plan of action that will result in growth, training and increased retention in the screen sector as well as improvements in equity, diversity and inclusion and mental health. Where appropriate, the task force will make recommendations to the U.K. government.

EXCLUSIVE: Marcus Ryder, a figurehead for the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, has renewed his call for an industry-wide anti-racism body following the British Film Institute’s admission that it mishandled a discrimination complaint.

Coronation Street has responded to Snoop Dogg's high praise of the ITV soap - and they have found him a perfect role after he said he'd like to join the show.The rapper, 51, shocked fans all across the world recently when he revealed his love for one specific British soap show, and also said he'd like to join the cast. In a recent interview with ITV, the rapper said: "Coronation Street, I love it. If they call me I'll do it.

Former Amazon Studios Europe boss Georgia Brown is to chair the BFI’s Skills Task Force, which has been assembled to address major skills shortages in the UK film and TV sector over the next five years.

Coronation Street's iconic cobbles could soon play host to an unexpected guest... the one and only Snoop Dogg.The 51 year old, self-nicknamed The Doggfather, has helped pioneer the hip-hop music scene for more than three decades now, with hit tunes such as Drop It Like It's Hot cementing his status as a rap legend. But it seems the rap superstar has ambitions that could take him a world away from the States – and onto shores here in the UK.

EXCLUSIVE: The British Film Institute, one of the UK’s most powerful movie funding bodies, admitted to a filmmaker of color last year that it is “systemically racist” after apologizing for how it handled his long-running complaint over alleged discrimination.