German TV Network ARD Says It Pulled Palestinian Comedy ‘Wajib’ Due To “Narrative Perspective” Amid Accusations Of Censorship

Howard Donald may perform to thousands of people as one third of chart-toppers Take That, but he lives a much quieter family life away from the spotlight.The fifty five year old singer is a proud dad to two sons, Bowie Taylan, seven, and Dougie Bear, six, whom he shares with his wife, illustrator Katie Halil.The couple met on the set of a Marks and Spencer Christmas advert and tied the knot in 2015. Howard also has two grown-up daughters, Grace and Lola, from previous relationships.

Ryan Thomas has contemplated 'backing out' of Dancing On Ice - or at least we think he's joking. The actor took to social media with an update as he's currently in the midst of training for the ITV skating competition which begins in January.

EXCLUSIVE: Sky’s docu-series Juan Carlos: Downfall of the King has been snapped up for German free TV a day after launching on Canal+ in France.

As a recent new grandfather, Mads Mikkelsen couldn’t be happier, but he doesn’t smile much in his new movie. An earthy 18th-century period piece, The Promised Land sees the Dane play a hard-up veteran, Ludvig Kahlen, who is determined to turn the blasted heaths of Jutland into a thriving farmland. It’s a Western of sorts, which becomes noticeably clearer when Kahlen starts to cross swords with a competing local landowner, but, for Mikkelsen, it’s a subversive  alpha male story of the kind he does so well, from the brutal Viking fantasy Valhalla Rising to the white-cold survival drama Arctic.

AC/DC may be planning to tour Europe in 2024, as a German mayor accidentally reveals plans for a show in Munich.Speculation that the rock veterans will be hitting the road again next year arose after Dieter Reiter, the mayor of Munich, accidentally let slip to a reporter that AC/DC will be performing at the city’s Olympic Stadium on June 12, 2024.“I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret,” Reiter said after inadvertently leaking the date of the AC/DC concert during a city council meeting (via Planet Radio).If the show is confirmed by AC/DC and goes ahead next summer, it will mark their first performance in Europe since their slot at Dusseldorf Espirit Arena in June 2016 – back when Axl Rose was acting as frontman for the band.It will also mark their first show since they made their comeback at the huge Power Trip festival in Indio, California back on October 7. The slot saw the band close out the second of three nights at the rock festival, and featured a massive 24-song set with Brian Johnson and Cliff Williams returning to the line-up.Unsurprisingly, the accidental leak has led to some fans speculating that the show may be part of a larger European tour – possibly including shows in the UK too.At time of writing, however, the Munich show remains unconfirmed and the band have not yet announced any plans to play live in Europe throughout 2024.If the tour does come to fruition, it is expected that the band will recruit Matt Laug to take on drumming duties for the live shows.

William Earl Turkish telenovela “Yargi,” German miniseries “The Empress,” Mexican drama “La Caída” and actor Martin Freeman were among the top winners at the 51st annual International Emmy Awards, held Monday at the New York Hilton Midtown. All told, the International Emmys recognized TV programs from across the continents, with strong showings from the U.K. and Australia.

The 2023 International Emmys awarded its winners and the comedy Derry Girls, the stand-up special Vir Das: Landing and the drama series The Empress landed the top awards.

EXCLUSIVE: Bombay Berlin Film Productions (BBFP) has revealed that August Diehl has been cast to play the role of German Olympic athlete Otto Peltzer in upcoming biopic The Distant Near. 

The biggest story of the 1936 summer Olympics in Berlin was Black track and field star Jesse Owens winning four gold medals and putting the lie to Adolf Hitler’s theories of race supremacy. A less-heralded U.S. gold medal triumph over host country Nazi Germany glides onto screens this Christmas with The Boys in the Boat from MGM Amazon Studios, directed by George Clooney.

EXCLUSIVE: UTA has signed Ilker Çatak, the writer-director behind Germany’s official International Feature Oscar entry The Teachers’ Lounge, for representation in all areas.

EXCLUSIVE: German broadcasting network ARD has been accused of censorship following its decision to pull a scheduled broadcast of Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s 2017 feature Wajib due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor More than 800 film industry professionals in Germany and Austria have signed an open letter opposing antisemitism, with the number of signatories continuing to grow. The signatories include a wide range of directors, writers, producers and other film industry professionals.

Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1 has seen its financial picture stabilizing as the local TV advertising market began to show signs of recovery.

Naman Ramachandran Gains made from streamer Joyn have offset the continuing decline in TV advertising in the German-speaking region at media giant ProSiebenSat.1. Quarterly results published on Tuesday reveal that group revenues are relatively stable with a 3% decline in the third quarter of 2023 to €888 million ($950 million) compared to €911 million ($974 million) in the previous year. The numbers are a marginal improvement from the second quarter results where the group’s revenues declined from €1.04 billion ($1.14 billion) in 2022 to €868 million ($950 million) this year.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Polish actress and singer Joanna Kulig (“Cold War,” “The Eddy”) and French icon Fanny Ardant are co-starring in “Island,” a psychological thriller by Italian-German writer director Nora Jaenike filmed on the Italian island of Elba. Filming on the mostly English-language atmospheric noir wrapped on Nov. 4 on the island, which is located off the coast of Tuscany.

Audiences in the U.S. were awake bright and early on Sunday to watch the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Miami Dolphins from Frankfurt, Germany.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Jasmina Kuhnke, a German-born writer, actor, author and activist, has signed with CAA for representation, Variety has learned exclusively. Kuhnke’s debut novel, “Black Heart,” is a bestseller. The semi-autobiographical book recounts her experience growing up on the outskirts of the Ruhr region in Germany in the ’90s, and how she grappled with racism.

BBC Acquires Aussie Spin-Off Of ‘Death In Paradise’

If it’s an understatement to call film and television challenged, amidst the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, in the world of comedy, the story is very different.

EXCLUSIVE: Tech entrepreneur and producer Oleg Shardin, best known as the co-founder of digital whiteboard company Miro, and actor-producer Alex Lane have partnered to create multimedia production company Puma In A Tank.