Heading into the 2025 Auburn football season, head coach Hugh Freeze and the Tigers are hoping to find success with a quarterback out of the transfer portal. Unfortunately, relying on a transfer QB didn't provide the best results in Freeze's first two seasons
Despite improving the roster and the coaching staff
things just never seemed to click for the Tigers on offense over the past two years
Payton Thorne was handed a lot of the blame
He had a successful stint with Michigan State
but for some reason struggled with good decision-making as a Tiger
Thorne represented Auburn— both the football program and the school— well during his time on the Plains
and threw for 4,468 yards and 37 touchdowns over his two seasons in orange and blue
the quarterback's mistakes and inconsistencies made it so he was never what one would call a 'fan favorite.'
AL.com's Peter Rauterkus summed up Payton Thorne's time on the Plains rather grimly:
"Payton Thorne arrived at Auburn from Michigan State ahead of Freeze’s first season in 2023 and eventually beat out returning signal caller Robby Ashford for the starting job
Thorne went on to account for 85% of Auburn’s passing yards for the next two seasons
but his tenure as Auburn’s starting quarterback is viewed as mediocre by some and disastrous by others."
Still, Thorne's football career is not over yet. Following the recent 2025 NFL Draft, Thorne was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cincinnati Bengals. He will join a quarterback position group led by Joe Burrow, who is backed up primarily by Jake Browning. According to Fox Sports
Thorne could potentially compete with third-string QB Logan Woodside for a roster or practice squad spot
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AL.com's Peter Rauterkus summed up Payton Thorne's time on the Plains rather grimly:
Still, Thorne's football career is not over yet. Following the recent 2025 NFL Draft, Thorne was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cincinnati Bengals. He will join a quarterback position group led by Joe Burrow, who is backed up primarily by Jake Browning. According to Fox Sports
Actor claims working with Oscar nominee on set of thriller Girl is ‘one of the all time worst experiences’ of her life
Bella Thorne has accused fellow US actor Mickey Rourke of bruising her genitals with a metal grinder on the set of a movie that they filmed together during what she described as “one of the all time worst experiences” of her career
A representative of Rourke did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thorne’s allegations
Thorne’s post recounted how she and the Oscar nominee were sharing a scene in which she was kneeling with her hands zip-tied around her back
“He’s supposed to take a metal grinder to my knee cap and instead he used it on my genitals [through] my jeans,” Thorne wrote
I had bruises on my pelvic bone - Working with Mickey was one of the all time worst experiences of my life working as an actress.”
She also shared a screenshot of a post on X in which she alleged that Rourke separately revved an engine and covered her “completely in dirt” for another scene
“I guess he thought it was funny to humiliate me in front of the entire crew,” Thorne – the 27-year-old former Disney star whose credits also include The Duff and Amityville: The Awakening – said of Rourke
Thorne then asserted that she had to take it upon herself to “go in his trailer absolutely alone” and talk him into finishing up the movie “as he shouted crazy demands that he wanted” from those helming the project written and directed by Chad Faust
“He refused to speak to the director or producers – so I had to convince him to show up and complete his job,” Thorne continued
But she said she endured it because “the movie could not be finished without him [and] everyone’s work would’ve just been lost and completely for nothing”
Thorne’s comments about her on-set experience with Rourke on Girl capped off a week of unflattering headlines for the actor whose work on 2008’s The Wrestler once won him Golden Globe and Bafta awards.
He earned a formal warning from Celebrity Big Brother UK’s producers after going on the show and boasting to Siwa, who is gay, that he would “make her straight”.
Rourke also invoked a British slang word for cigarette that is also a homophobic slur in the US before directing himself at Siwa and saying: “I’m not talking to you.”
Celebrity Big Brother UK’s producers indicated to Rourke that they would remove him from the show if he kept up with the homophobic language.
Print Bella Thorne is joining the “Big Brother” party in piling allegations of rude
unprofessional behavior on “The Wrestler” actor Mickey Rourke
Entertainment & Arts
A year after mommy vlogger Ruby Franke was convicted of child abuse
are sharing their story in Hulu’s new docuseries ‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke.’
Rourke apologized later to his 21-year-old housemate
but was still told by “Big Brother” that “further language or behavior of this nature could lead to you being removed from the Big Brother house.” The actor
I wasn’t taking it all so serious” and didn’t have “dishonorable intentions.”
that wasn’t enough to get outspoken “The DUFF” actor Thorne to rein in her thoughts
A representative for Rourke did not respond immediately Friday to a request for comment.
Television
Sean Lowe of ‘The Bachelor’ fame was viciously attacked twice by the family’s Boxer after a blaring smoke alarm ‘flipped this switch’ in the dog’s mind
However, a representative did say in a statement to Variety that Rourke and his team were aware of the accusations
Rourke adamantly denies any intentional misconduct,” the statement said
“He was not made aware of any such concerns during filming and had no prior knowledge of Ms
The rep said there would be no further comment but added that Rourke “remains willing to cooperate with any appropriate inquiry through the proper channels.”
The two were both in the 2020 movie “Girl,” about a daughter who comes back to her small hometown intent upon killing her abusive dad
only to discover someone whacked him the day before she got there
Thorne played the Girl and Rourke played the Sheriff
leaving one to wonder how the metal grinder and zip ties came into the picture
“So many gross stories of things he made me go thru on that movie, including in his last scene to speed up and rev his engine so he could cover me completely in dirt,” she wrote in another story and on X. “Idk I guess he thought it was funny to humiliate me in front of the entire crew.”
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She said she had to go into the “Iron Man 2” actor’s trailer alone and persuade him to get to work so they could finish the film because he wouldn’t speak to the director or producers
Thorne said he shouted “crazy demands” of what he wanted from the producers while she was there with him
“Since the movie could not be finished without him,” she wrote
“Everyone’s work would’ve just been lost and completely for nothing.”
She said she didn’t want to go into his trailer
but I did what I was asked to do and what was best for the movie
Mickey should’ve never put anybody in that movie in any of those positions that he did.”
This is the same Mickey Rourke who, according to “Iron Man 2” director John Favreau, once flew himself out to Moscow to research his role as villain Ivan Vanko and came back with requests that his character speak mostly Russian, have a pet bird and flash a lot of Eastern Province body ink.
Candace Cameron Bure and JoJo Siwa appear to have settled their TikTok drama
This is also the same guy who in the mid-80s cultivated a bad-boy image to counter his looks and seemed on the brink of A-list stardom after roles in “Body Heat,” “Diner” and “9½ Weeks.”
“Ruggedly handsome before boxing and surgery took their toll, Rourke had a trio of movies in 1987 that represent the crest of his movie stardom,” The Times wrote in 2010
they’re a kind of Rorschach test on the essence of Rourke
You either see the same stringy haired guy growling his way through the three roles
or you appreciate the full spectrum of Mickeyness on display.”
The movies were “Angel Heart,” “A Prayer for the Dying” and “Barfly.” In the last one, Rourke’s character often sounded “like a cross between Mae West and Bob Dylan,” according to The Times’ review
“The press would always like to portray Mickey as a crazy lunatic which he is not,” Rourke’s then-manager told The Times in 1992
responding to rumors of a spat between her client and a couple of writers — one that allegedly involved a sinister phone call from the actor
good-hearted human being who is completely misrepresented.”
More than 30 years later? Rourke told Siwa on “Big Brother” that it took him “23 years of therapy to get almost normal” and the two now appear to have become some sort of friends.
Christie D’Zurilla is an assistant editor for entertainment news on the Fast Break team. A graduate of USC, she joined the Los Angeles Times in 2003 as a copy editor, started writing about celebrities in 2009 and has more than 34 years of journalism experience in Southern California.
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Researching mine and Stephen Graham’s Netflix drama
I realised the brains of under 16s are unable to cope with ideas as dangerous as those in the ‘manosphere’
The government needs to ban smartphones for children
Two and a half years ago, Stephen Graham phoned me up to ask if I was interested in writing a show about knife crime. He wanted to talk about young male violence towards women and he had two stipulations: he wanted to do it in a series of single shots, and he didn’t want to blame the parents.
Read moreI enthusiastically got involved and suggested we write together
We knew he wasn’t a product of abuse or parental trauma
said: “I think you should look into ‘incel’ culture.”
I expected to be confronted by anger and aggression; what I didn’t expect was to quickly grasp the attraction of the so-called “manosphere”
I knew almost immediately that if I was an isolated kid
I would find answers as to why I felt a bit lost
One of the central ideas – that 80% of women are attracted to 20% of men – would have made adolescent me sit up and
The path then becomes: what do you do to upset that equation
How do you manipulate and harm in order to reset a female-dominated world that works against you
The only episode Stephen left me alone with was episode three
He said to write a two-hander that looked into Jamie’s mind
I was shocked at how much of Jamie I had in me
He had the internet to read at night whereas I had Terry Pratchett and Judy Blume
My son is almost nine. In two years’ time he will be begging me for a smartphone. By that point, 60-70% of his class will have phones. Do I say no and isolate him? I can put controls in, but I’m not digitally sophisticated; my 12-year-old nephew already runs rings around me. I have seen what he could see and I don’t know how to stop him seeing it. I know I’m in the same position as hundreds of thousands of parents worrying about these things.
Josh MacAlister’s protection of children (digital safety and data protection) bill originally proposed banning phones in schools and introducing a digital age of consent that would ban social media use until 16. This was watered down, for reasons I’m unsure of, and by the second reading what was decisive had become discursive. Instead of legislation, the government has committed only to an assessment when the problems of the present are so clear.
We need to do something similarly radical here
What you hope when you make a piece of social realism is to create a conversation
We wanted to make something that people want to watch
but we also wanted to pose a question that got people talking on their sofas
but I hope it’s OK to say that Jamie is a tragedy
We will not solve the problem by kicking this issue into the long grass
I hope the government is brave enough to reconsider it
Adolescence is on Netflix now
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Reform will now represent Thorne and Moorends on Doncaster Council after taking all three ward seats from Labour in the local elections
Cabinet members Joe Blackham and Mark Houlbrook have lost their seats along with fellow Labour ward councillor Susan Durant
and Glyn Whiting are now set to take up the three seats representing Thorne and Moorends on the city council
which is up on the 2021 vote where the turnout was 24.89%
City of Doncaster Council Election Results – Thorne and Moorends Ward
The Labour Party have retained control of Thorne Moorends Town Council
with twelve councillors to Reform’s two
A place on the 15 seat town council also goes to Craig Ellis
who stood this time round as an independent councillor after previously standing for the Labour Party
With the nine seats on Thorne Town Ward being uncontested
eight candidates were standing for six seats in the Moorends ward
but the party’s Carol Blackham and Mark Phillips were the two candidates to lose out with Reform’s Dave Knight and Glyn Whiting winning a seat each
Turnout for the Moorends ward election was 56.2%
Thorne Moorends Town Council – Moorends Ward (Six seats)ELECTED: Susan Durant
Thorne Moorends Town Council – Thorne Town Ward (Nine seats – uncontested)Gwyn Ap-Harri
Actor claimed that working with ‘The Wrestler’ star was ‘one of the all time worst experiences’ of her career
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Bella Thorne has accused Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke of bruising her genitals and “humiliating” her on set, amid his controversial appearance on Celebrity Big Brother
In a series of social media posts shared on Friday (11 April), Thorne, 27, claimed that she had “so many gross stories” from working with the 72-year-old The Wrestler actor
which starred Thorne as the main character who revisits her family home to find a dangerous past
which was written and directed by Chad Faust
Thorne alleged that she and Rourke were filming a sequence in which he was supposed to take a metal grinder to her kneecap
but instead used it on her “genitals through my jeans” resulting in bruising
In a scene where I’m on my knees with my hands zip-tied around my back
He’s supposed to take a metal grinder to my knee cap and instead he used it on my genitals thru my jeans
In a separate post on X/Twitter
Thorne spoke of different instances where she claimed Rourke purposefully “humiliated” her in front of the cast and crew
“So many gross stories of things he made me go thru on that movie
including in his last scene to speed up and rev his engine so he could cover me completely in dirt
Idk I guess he thought it was funny to humiliate me in front of the entire crew,” she said
A representative of Rourke did not immediately respond to a request for comment
She also claimed that Rourke refused to speak to the directors and producers
so she would enter his trailer alone to “beg” him to finish the film
“Having to go in his trailer absolutely alone because he refused to speak to the director or producers – so I had to convince him to show up and complete his job
as he shouted crazy demands that he wanted from the producers
Since the movie could not be finished without him
Everyone’s work would’ve just been lost and completely for nothing,” she said
Thorne concluded that working with Rourke was “one of the all-time worst experiences of my life working as an actress”
During Wednesday night’s episode of Celebrity Big Brother (9 April), Rourke was given a formal warning by Big Brother after he suggested he could turn 21-year-old Dance Moms star JoJo Siwa straight
before announcing he “needs a fag” and pointing at Siwa
“I’m not talking to you.” He also remarked that he would “vote the lesbian out” of the show
He also “ogled” the reality show’s co-host AJ Odudu upon his entrance to the Big Brother house and offended fellow housemate Donna Preston with a comment about her weight.
Rourke’s conduct on the programme has led to calls from viewers to have him removed from the programme.
A representative for Big Brother told The Independent on Wednesday: “All Housemates receive Respect and Inclusion training and an extensive briefing from the Big Brother Senior team to prepare them for living in the House and to set out Big Brother’s expectation for appropriate behaviour and language. “Housemates are monitored 24 hours a day and instances of inappropriate behaviour are dealt with appropriately and timely.”
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
we're resurfacing our recent conversation with its writer Jack Thorne
The following article contains major spoilers for Adolescence
“This is a long-term relationship,” Adolescence writer Jack Thorne tells GQ of his many collaborations with star Stephen Graham. “Stephen likes to call it a marriage. I wouldn't be so bold as to say so, but I like the idea he considers me marriage material.”
while it has rocketed to the top of the Netflix charts
and the dangers of online misogyny and unchecked social media use — not least for young minds
how familiar were you with this idea of the manosphere and online radicalisation
What I wasn't aware of was the logic of it
What I found looking into it — and this is the heart of episode three
I think — was that if I'd heard this stuff when I was a kid
I don't know that I wouldn't have believed it
That's what makes it so terrifying to me
“There's a reason why you're lonely
There's a reason why you're isolated
There's a reason why it seems that no one likes you
There's a reason why you feel unattractive
And that is that the world is created for others.”
that damning statistic of 80 per cent of women are attracted to 20 per cent of men
I can totally see why people are taken with it
was to get inside Jamie's shoes… I can tell you that episode three ended up a lot more personal than I was expecting it to
and went to a lot more personal places than I wanted to go
I'm not saying that I would have committed that act
And I did have a bewilderment when it came to other people
and that's partly… I just felt outside
and I think Jamie feels it really profoundly
although he's done this horrendous thing
And this show was set up to understand him
“It takes a village to raise a child.” I think it takes a village to destroy a child
The show has triggered this wider conversation about how young boys are susceptible to sexist ideology online
What do you think we should be doing to limit that damage
which is [that] the whole village needs to course correct
but I know how difficult I'd have found found it to talk to my dad when I was that age
and that's to do with the money that we put into schools
and the discussions that the schools have with their kids
and I talked to his headmaster at the gates
and he thinks that this is something he wants to talk about… It's a discussion they've been aware of for a long time
and now they want to use this moment a little bit to lean in
And then the final level is the government
and I think the government need to legislate
probably 60 to 70 per cent of his class will have phones
Two of his class have phones at the moment
“These communication systems that your friends have all got
That's an impossible thing for a parent to do
“This is what they're allowed to do,” because their brains are too soft to cope with what's in that black box
Has writing Adolescence changed the way you look at your responsibilities as a parent
I want to keep him in a box for the next ten years
We're reading Swallows and Amazons at the moment
You can't get more wholesome than that
Stephen told me that he was driven to the subject of Adolescence by a spate of killings up and down the country. Were there any specific case studies you looked at?
No, I really deliberately avoided that. I read a lot. But I also didn't want to lead into any story as a guide rope for this, because I've done true-life stories, [and] I know what it costs people when you put their stories on screen… I've been there before, and we didn't go there with this.
What did your research into incel culture entail?
A lot of diving into holes that I didn't want to be in. My algorithm was a mess; it still is a mess. Though bizarrely, I am now seeing every post written about Meryl Streep and Martin Short's relationship. I don't know why!
When you're in that place — that hole, as you describe it — how does that affect you mentally? Did you ever have to try to create some sort of insulation for yourself? I can imagine it's kind of an endurance test.
I don't know. You may have the same thing, that ability to compartmentalise. Do you know what I mean? I've been doing this 20 years. My son may have got a tighter hug at the end of the day, but it wasn't that I was sitting there traumatised… Well, I was sitting there traumatised, actually. But I was able to put that fright into a box.
And process it through the work, I suppose.
Exactly. But I'm expecting abuse coming my way. I went on Channel 4 News, and I talked about what I'd seen, and where I'd been, and why we were telling this story, and the comment stream afterwards was all about how I looked. It was all about my oestrogen levels, and my testosterone levels, and who I was as a man.
I want to zoom into the last episode, which tells the story of how Jamie's family has been impacted a year later. Why was that important to touch on for you?
We were trying with every episode to answer a different question as to how Jamie was made, and it felt like we needed to look at his home life last. When we started this whole thing, the first thing Stephen said to me was, “We're not blaming the parents.” But we needed to understand the parents, and we needed to understand their portion of the blame for Jamie.
We needed to look inside how it happened, and how this kid had been lost. And how better to understand how this kid had been lost than by looking inside Eddie, and seeing him talk about this kid who drew pictures on the kitchen table — and how that kid then became an isolated kid who wanted to stay in his room, and how the parents had unwittingly let that isolation sustain itself.
The pivotal moment of the episode is when Jamie calls his dad and changes his plea to guilty. Why did you want to include that scene?
It was that need to connect with Jamie again. It starts with Jamie sending a card in the morning, and it's a card he's drawn — and you're sort of connecting with Jamie in a different way, in an intimate way, in a way that's unexpected having just seen him in episode three. But then you need to put the tail on the end of that. And he would phone up on his dad's birthday, and he would talk to him.
It's the closest Jamie comes to accepting responsibility, right?
The episode ends with Eddie in Jamie's bedroom, where he says, “I'm sorry son, I should've done more.” Why did you want to end it on this note of lingering guilt?
Ending on Eddie in Jamie's space was very deliberate, and was about him, and again it's about Stephen the actor. There's a moment in episode one when Jamie is strip-searched, and in the script — as in the filming — it was like, “And we turn and we watch Eddie's face.” What Stephen can do with one flicker of an eyelash tells about 50 pages of dialogue.
What would you like the lasting impact of Adolescence to be?
I hope it's the beginning of a discussion. I hope that it leads to more dramas. I hope that it leads to difficult conversations on sofas. I hope it leads to classroom discussions. And I really, really hope it leads to government discussions.
the new Channel 4 drama written by Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne starring Keeley Hawes (Miss Austen) and Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You)
follows nun Anna (Hawes) and priest David (Essiedu) as they fall in love
Their romance is as true as it is unexpected
and the two quickly find themselves trying to balance it with their commitments to the community
Also making appearances are Jason Watkins (The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies)
Adrian Scarborough (Gavin & Stacey) and Susan Brown (Mr Bates vs The Post Office)
Newcomers Holly Rhys and Shayde Sinclair round out the cast
“I’m thrilled to be taking on the role of Anna and so looking forward to working alongside the brilliant Paapa Essiedu to bring Jack Thorne’s beautiful scripts to life,” said Hawes
“Falling is a story that has Jack Thorne’s singular talent of mining the sublime out of the ordinary running all the way through,” said Essiedu
Peter and the rest of the team to bring this world to life.”
Channel 4 will reveal transmission details for Falling in due course
Email: info@rts.org.uk
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The Labour Party’s Ros Jones is to serve a fourth term as the Mayor of Doncaster after narrowly winning the city’s mayoral election
Mayor Jones retained her seat with 23,805 votes
while the Reform candidate Alexander Jones came a close second polling 23,107 votes
Conservative candidate Nick Fletcher was third with 18,982 votes
overall turnout for the election was 32.27% – up on the previous three mayoral elections which saw a turnouts of under 30%
Mayor Jones (pictured) thanked everyone who voted for her
adding: “I make this promise to the people of Doncaster
candidates and volunteers for their support over the course of the campaign
“We are now approaching the tenth month of this labour government
elected on a promise to rebuild our public services and deliver growth and prosperity across the country
I will of course work with government to deliver investment
but I will continue to hold them to account where necessary
I am the directly elected Mayor of Doncaster
my priority first and foremost will continue to be the residents and businesses of Doncaster.”
Vote counts for City of Doncaster Council ward elections and town and parish elections are expected late Friday afternoon (2 May)
First published: Fri 2 May ; last updated: Fri 2 May
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Watch as Adolescence creator Jack Thorne addresses parliament on Tuesday (29 April) to discuss misogyny among young men and boys
Mr Thorne spoke to the Women and Equalities Committee with fellow executive producer Emily Feller as the government faces calls to do more to tackle extreme content being served to young people on social media
The session came after Sir Keir Starmer gave his backing for the Netflix drama to be shown in schools and parliament.
The prime minister revealed how he had watched the drama with his teenage children.
Speaking at a recent PMQs, he said: “This violence carried out by young men, influenced by what they see online, is a real problem.It's abhorrent, and we have to tackle it.”
The record-breaking show centres on a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a young girl and the rise of incel culture.
The show has prompted calls for the government to get tough on tech firms.
A man was taken to hospital with stab wounds following an incident in Thorne last night
Police say they were called to Queen Street in Thorne after receiving reports of a man in possession of a knife
A male in his 40s is understood to have suffered stab wounds before seeking help in a nearby public house
Police say his injuries are not thought be life-threatening or life-altering
and are asking anyone with information about the incident to get in touch
A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said: “We were called at 10.10pm yesterday (29 April) to Queen Street in Thorne
to reports of a man in possession of a knife
“A 44-year-old man was taken to hospital with stab wounds
His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening or life-altering
Anyone with information is asked to contact police online or by calling 101 quoting incident number 1097 of 29 April 2025
Writer joins more than 100,000 parents who pledge to withhold smartphones until children are at least 14
The writer of Adolescence has backed the Smartphone Free Childhood group
which has received the support of more than 100,000 parents pledging to withhold smartphones from their children until they are at least 14
Jack Thorne, the co-writer of the Netflix drama about “incel” culture, said he supported the campaign’s “parent pact” – an online promise to wait until the end of year 9 before considering giving a child a smartphone
“I think SFC is a remarkable group and the parent pact is a remarkable idea,” said Thorne
“I know it’s one that I’m going to engage in as our kid reaches the critical age of smartphone want
I am terrified of what comes next and think empowering parents is a vital ingredient in this struggle.”
The pact has garnered more than 100,000 signatures since its launch six months ago and its celebrity backers include the singer Paloma Faith
the actor Benedict Cumberbatch and the broadcaster Emma Barnett
According to research by the media regulator Ofcom
89% of 12-year-olds in the UK own a smartphone
and half of children under 13 are on social media
It is understood that the education secretary
has become frustrated that there is a lack of evidence as to whether the guidance is being followed and its impact on classrooms
Adolescence, which is about a teenage boy who is accused of killing a female classmate
has stoked the debate about social media and managing children’s access to smartphones
said he had been watching the drama with his children
while Thorne has called for screenings in parliament and further restrictions on under-18 access to social media
which started as a WhatsApp group formed by three parents
argues that smartphones damage children’s development by displaying harmful social media content
distracting classrooms and enabling cyberbullying
self-harm and anxiety on Instagram and Pinterest
Writing in the Guardian last year
because it would at best delay encounters with harmful online content and would not remove the danger – because damaging material was still present on social media platforms
The recently introduced Online Safety Act contains a series of provisions protecting the under-18s from content that is harmful but not illegal – such as
content from “toxic” male influencers such as Andrew Tate
The legislation requires platforms to shield children from content that is abusive or incites hatred against people with certain characteristics such as their sex
Ofcom is also developing codes of practice to protect women and girls from online harm
These measures could include introducing “nudges” to ask whether someone is sure they wish to post a potentially harmful comment – a feature that has been shown to lead to significant behaviour change
under a provision requiring tech firms to enforce their content guidelines
if for instance a social media platform’s rules bar misogynistic material
then that site needs to make sure such content is removed
Doncaster East Neighbourhood Police Team say they continue to receive reports of off-road motorbikes using York Road recreation ground in Dunscroft
The neighbourhood team say use of the recreational green space by off-road bikes is ‘dangerous’ and ‘unacceptable’
Sgt Simon Lovell said: “This is a green space for the local community to enjoy the sunshine and let their children play
“The use of motorbikes on this [park] is unacceptable and those found to be using motorbikes on the park will be prosecuted for any offences
“Off road motorbikes not only put the rider in danger but others going about their daily business in the area.”
“We will continue to show a police presence in the area to deter this dangerous behaviour.”
Anyone with information about who is using the motorbikes or where they are stored is asked to call police on 101
The screenwriter behind hit TV dramas National Treasure and Kiri
more personal project created with his wife - a feature film
Basing themselves in an outbuilding at Oldham general on scraps of money
they worked incessantly on the issue of infertility
Bob had had a number of breakthroughs working with mice and rabbits
and thought that with Patrick’s innovations with laparoscopes (keyhole surgery)
there was a possibility that tubal infertility could be
There are now 12 million more children on the planet because of them
Born to people who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to have them
The word ‘survivor’ is a grand word that’s often misappropriated but going through IVF was the hardest thing we’d ever doneIt is
one of the great medical breakthroughs of the 20th century
And it’s the reason why my partner and I have a child
It took Rachel [a comedy agent] and me seven rounds of IVF to have Elliott
What started as a journey where we told everyone
Rach told me she’d been ready to leave me had IVF not worked for us
She wanted me to have a child and decided I wanted and needed children more than I wanted and needed her
I’m going to quote her exactly here: “I felt that it wasn’t fair as the issue was mine
I imagined you must have felt the same pain
and everywhere I looked I couldn’t escape it; pregnancies being announced
I’m glad Instagram reveals weren’t a thing then
Read moreWe both feel ashamed of that time
the fact that – as with a lot of things – I was very goal oriented (I used to quote fertility statistics at her after every failure: “the next round our percentage goes up 2.3%”
I let her down and left her in a very lonely place
it is illustrative of the damage infertility can do
A damage that I hope fills every part of the film we wrote together
And the love and the joy we’ve had from Elliott I hope fills it too
They knew about Rachel and I’s fertility journey
in fact Amanda had been on a similar journey herself with her own IVF child
They told me that Pathé was looking to make a film about IVF
“You have to do it.” After sleeping on it for the night
I suggested at breakfast the next day – “Why don’t we do it together?”
View image in fullscreen‘Being an IVF parent is a privilege … It changes your relationship with 2am wake-ups.’ Thorne and his wife Rachel Mason
Photograph: Pedro Alvarez/The ObserverIt took her a beat before she reluctantly agreed
This wasn’t something I did lightly and it wasn’t something she agreed to lightly
I have a slightly manic relationship with writing
but we’ve never been the sort of couple who wanted to share everything
Writing is my safety net and governs a lot of my relationship with the world (are you seeing now how I am the lucky one?)
Rachel will literally send me away to write
meant her seeing the final part of my brain
But I couldn’t imagine doing it without her
Partly because Rachel has far more understanding of infertility than I do
she’d made it her duty to do more for people going through it
volunteering for the Fertility Network and running a monthly support group
But mainly because writing is an empathy leap that relies on biography
there are pieces of your past you put together to build that fallen angel
I didn’t want to pick apart that piece of me without her picking it apart with me
The word “survivor” is a grand word that’s often misappropriated
and maybe it would be misappropriated here
but going through IVF was the hardest thing we’d ever done
I did home school in the morning (as I mentioned
Then in the evening we would sit and Skype or Zoom with someone from this history
Because of her generosity and the generosity of so many people
we were able to talk to a number of key sources who helped us uncover this extraordinary story
Patrick and Bob wrote a beautiful book – that was our base
everything else we tried to build on top of that
We’d find out shards of information and slowly that jigsaw puzzle of 1968-78 came puzzlingly into the light
View image in fullscreenGynaecologist Patrick Steptoe
embryologist Jean Purdy and physiologist Bob Edwards at the birth of Louise Brown in 1978
told us extraordinary stories about his father’s life in the second world war
of him having to make extraordinary decisions on a rescue raft
But the bit we found most moving was that Patrick was one of three obstetric consultants at Oldham
but the only one who’d perform newly legalised terminations
We never wanted this to be a film about women wanting babies
we wanted this to be a film about people having the choice whether or not to have babies
we had the ability to play this through the choices he made
We read as much as we could about Muriel Harris
An incredible operating theatre superintendent who found ways of making a largely volunteer rota work
That when she finally retired from Bourn Hall
I cannot tell you how many times we wrote that into the post-credits sequence at the end of the film
Everyone we talked to talked about ideas and thoughts tumbling out of him
An hour in his company would be overwhelmingly full of exhausting thought
He never stopped making and thinking and doing
He even runs for parliament halfway through the film
an act which needs far more time than we can give it
whose pathway to genius was a really complicated road
You could make an entire eight-part TV series about Bob
but her centrality was dependent on knowing enough to build her out
The tragic part of Jean’s story is that she was the first of the IVF group to die
She passed at the age of 39 from a malignant melanoma
Her final days were spent in a specially prepared room in Bourn Hall
Watch a trailer for Joy.She was instinctively someone more comfortable in the background
and she left very little record of her life
We were desperate to get hold of her notebooks
Rachel got in contact with the Churchill Archives Centre
and discovered increasingly large slivers of information
Rach and I liked the way Louise Brown described her as “my first babysitter”
she was the first person to witness the cell division of the embryo that would become Louise
In 1979 Grace gave birth to the second IVF baby
Grace gave us insight into the women at the heart of the programme
she even told us the name they gave themselves – “the ovum club”
All three would be appalled that despite progress made in IVF
other working-class parents aren’t given the opportunity nowThis film is not without its challenges
it takes them 10 years and much of the time they’re on a road between Oldham and Cambridge
If you marked off each year (we did) between 1968 and 1978
you’d see huge amounts being achieved during certain years
It doesn’t have the peanut-butter-smooth feeling that you might concoct if writing this without the facts
Ben had two IVF children and a drive all of his own
1978 Thorne is born in Bristol on 6 December; his father Mike is a town planner and his mother Maggie a teacher
later becoming a carer for people with learning disabilities
1998 Thorne studies social and political sciences at the University of Cambridge
where he becomes involved in student drama
Due to ill health in his third year he has to halt his studies
2012 Thorne wins his first Baftas, for The Fades and This Is England ‘’88; he wins three more over the following five yearsin 2016 and 2017
2014 Marries comedy agent Rachel Mason
2016 The two-part stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
written by Thorne based on an original story by him
The play goes on to win numerous awards including best new play at the 2017 Laurence Olivier awards
There are sSeveral international productions follow
2019 The first of Thorne’s TV three-season adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials airs on BBC One. The following year, Thorne co-writes the screenplay for Netflix film Enola Holmes
2022 Then Barbara Met Alan
a BBC Two film co-written with Genevieve Barr
airsis shown on BBC Two; it tells the story of the founders of the Disabled People’s Direct Action Network
Thorne receives the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain award for outstanding contribution to writing
opens attransfers to the Noël Coward theatre after its National Theatre run; Sam Mendes directs
It wins an Evening Standard theatre award and a Critics’ Circle award
2024 Netflix film Joy
co-scripted by Thorne and from a story developed with his wife and two others
tells the story of is about the team behind the first baby conceived through IVF
Photograph: Pedro AlvarezWas this helpful?Thank you for your feedback.With his engine now on board
we decided to make it feel like a sports film
I hope it doesn’t exclusively fit that archetype
This is a film where the final achievement is known
this is a film where the impossible is made possible
this is a film where no one bloody helps them
But it’s a sports film where the stakes are gargantuan
It is a sports film which is literally about the essence of life
My favourite scene in the film is one on a cold beach
and tells her that she’s jealous of Rachel
but the actors Thomasin McKenzie and Charlie Murphy
imbue it with such truth and simple beauty
and somehow it sums up the cruelty of fertility for me
But I also think how we feel and talk about IVF in this country needs thinking about too
IVF is now something you largely seem to pay for. Deemed a luxury good. It’s become a postcode lottery that favours those that go private
Louise Brown’s parents were working class: Lesley had a variety of jobs including working in a laundry
had been forced to sleep rough for a while
They were given the opportunity to have Louise through the bloody-minded perseverance of Bob
and I think all three would be appalled that despite the progress made in IVF
other working-class parents are not given the opportunity now
Bob, on his many appearances on TV and the radio, would always say that infertility is a medical problem like any other. My experience, and the experience of many of my friends, is that infertility is also something that can do enormous damage. In no way am I saying that everyone wants babies. But some do. I know we live in a time when the NHS is cracking at the seams
But the rationing of fertility care does not make sense to me
People need to have a choice about whether they have children or not
if we truly still have national healthcare provision
should not be imposed wholly by the government
and I don’t think fertility treatment should be rationed
View image in fullscreenJean Purdy and Bob Edwards in their research laboratory in Cambridge in 1968
Photograph: Getty ImagesI think being an IVF parent is a privilege
But there’s something about struggling – really struggling to have a child – that changes your relationship with 2am wake-ups
The thing that unites all IVF parents is that we saw our kids when they were a dot on a screen or on a printout
Others get to see their babies when they’re orange sized or bigger; I saw Elliott as literally a speck
I wouldn’t change the way we made him and I am so grateful to Bob
Jean and Patrick that we were able to make him because of their chaotic
this film reminds everyone that fertility matters
it reminds people that IVF is a British story
it reminds people how brilliant British science is and can be
it’ll make people cry (hopefully in a good way)
It is a film about good people who are admirable and who do a truly magnificent thing
but it is ultimately a celebration of them
and hopefully this film is a love note to them
Joy is in UK and Irish cinemas from 15 November and on Netflix from 22 November
This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025
The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media
Produced by The Forge Entertainment (National Treasure
Falling is a major new six-part drama written by acclaimed BAFTA award-winning writer Jack Thorne (Help
His Dark Materials) who brings his first ever love story to Channel 4
Anna is a devoted nun who has spent most of her adult life in a convent whilst David
committed to his work in the church and the Bristol community that surrounds it
Neither are expected to fall in love… However
both Anna and David are forced to wrestle with what it means for them
Falling is a contemporary and deeply romantic drama that will surprise you in its study of faith in modern society as well as moving you to tears with its honesty and its heart
Director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama says: “Falling is a beautifully observed
achingly romantic drama about two people who can’t deny the feelings they have for one another
and yet battle with the crisis of faith their relationship triggers
Jack Thorne’s scripts are not only profoundly moving
and revelatory in their examination of religion in contemporary society
We couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with Jack
and the brilliant Peter Hoar on this unique drama.”
executive producer for The Forge says: “Jack has created two central characters in Anna and David who feel deeply but hold their faith equally deeply. That puts them in an impossible position and makes for a fantastically compelling
richly rewarding love story that is moving and insightful in equal measure.”
Falling is executive produced by George Ormond
Peaky Blinders) is the producer and Peter Hoar (It’s A Sin
Falling has been commissioned for Channel 4 by Ollie Madden
Director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama and Gwawr Lloyd
Falling will be distributed internationally by Banijay Rights
Casting details will be announced in due course
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and are accessible via the link at the bottom of the page
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Italian pianist Ludovico EinaudiUp nextThe Leopard, Natasha Brown, Manchester International Festival, Elizabeth Fritsch
Former Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins performs, Torrey Peters' new book, centenary of Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay
Review: Edvard Munch portraits, Indian film Sister Midnight, Chekhov's The Seagull with Cate Blanchett
Vikingur Olafsson's lockdown piano performance, how the pandemic changed The Arts, Liz Pichon's interactive world of The Mubbles
Julian Barnes's new book Changing My Mind, Victor Hugo's artwork, Emma Donoghue's novel The Paris Express
Francois Ozon's new film When Autumn Falls, Pierre Boulez Centenary, Shona McCarthy on leaving Edinburgh Festival's Fringe
Review: Clueless the Musical, Oscar winning animated film Flow, Robert de Niro in The Alto Knights. Plus poetry from Seán Hewitt
Bryan Ferry, Disney's Snow White, the impact of cash prizes on creativity
Peter Mullan as Bill Shankly, 100 years of Art Deco, Jonathan Pie
Peter Capaldi's new album, the great Ossian myth, Brian Friel's short stories
Review: The Studio, Grayson Perry, La Cocina
Black Mirror's Charlie Brooker, Design Council at 80, The Women of Llanrumney
Tilda Swinton, Michael Sheen on the new Welsh National Theatre, Richard Burton's influential teacher
Reviews of Mobland, The Most Precious of Cargoes and Giuseppe Penone exhibition
Manhunt play by Robert Icke, new Edwardians exhibition, film director Waris Hussein
Kym Marsh on Abigail's Party, Severance creator Dan Erickson, film franchises in flux
Tracy Chapman, the Arthur Miller moment in UK theatres, Rock Royalty
Review: Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes in The Return, On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle, Holy Cow film
Muriel's Wedding the Musical, Dr Who, Anthony Horowitz on Marble Hall Murders
Ryan Coogler on Sinners, The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz, Book Bans in the US
Photographer Susan Meiselas, The Impact of Trump's Tariffs on Musical Instrument Manufacturers, Author Ewan Morrison.
Review: Alex Garland's film Warfare, Audition by Katie Kitamura, Shanghai Dolls by Amy Ng on stage
JMW Turner: 250th anniversary of Britain's greatest painter
Dante's Inferno in Jamaica, Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time re-examined, Shakespeare's first theatre
The ethics of publishing posthumous diaries, Pianist Igor Levit, and Memorials to great women.
Review: Self Esteem's album A Complicated Woman; RSC's Much Ado About Nothing; Julie Keeps Quiet tennis film
Universal Theme Park, Olivier award-winning play Giant, Two to One
Noddy Holder of Slade, Stephen Rea and Simone de Beauvoir
King James VI & I, Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, The Extraordinary Miss Flower
Programme website
In X posts the 27-year-old Thorne shared on Friday
she claimed that "working with Mickey was one of the all-time worst experiences of my life working as an actress."
"I had to work with this man – in a scene where I’m on my knees with my hands zip-tied around my back
Hitting them over and over again," Thorne wrote
The message was written over a screenshot of an article about former child actor-turned musician JoJo Siwa calling out Rourke's comments
Thorne went on to allege that she suffered from "so many gross stories of things (Rourke) made me go thru" while filming an unnamed movie
The two co-starred in the Chad Faust-directed 2020 thriller
She claimed the "Sin City" star covered her "completely in dirt" by revving a car engine "to humiliate me in front of the entire crew" and added that she allegedly went into his trailer to "convince him to show up and complete his job
as he shouted crazy demands that he wanted from the producers."
USA TODAY has reached out to Rourke's representative for comment
Thorne had her breakout role on the Disney Channel show "Shake It Up," in which she starred opposite Zendaya, and went on to act in 2015's "The DUFF" and "The Babysitter" movies. She also had a successful stint on the adult platform OnlyFans
Thorne has been outspoken about difficulties she encountered from a young age in Hollywood. In a 2022 podcast appearance
she claimed a director declined to advance her in a casting process when she was 10 years old because he felt she was "flirting with him," which made him "uncomfortable."
Also in 2022, Rourke − who earned Golden Globe and BAFTA recognition, as well as an Oscar nomination for 2008's "The Wrestler" − revealed that his upbringing was "violent" as he experienced abuse as a teenager
A therapist told Rourke this made him "a scary person to deal with" in adulthood
Rourke also mentioned being in therapy for more than two decades
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es
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OnlyFans has exploded into a digital empire where celebrities
and unconventional creators rake in astonishing sums
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the wealth generated through this subscription-based model has rewritten the rulebook of online fame and fortune
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From rap stars to YouTubers turned adult content moguls
here's a breakdown of the top 10 highest-earning names on OnlyFans this year and the staggering amounts they've pulled in
Here are the record-breaking estimated earnings of 10 creators based on the subscriptions they have
Reality star and entrepreneur Blac Chyna claims the top spot on the 2024 list with staggering earnings
her monthly income was estimated at $20 million
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the rapper is estimated to have earned $59 million (£46 million) through exclusive content and a massive
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her total has hit around $48 million (£37 million)
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with her massive global fanbase consistently rolling in subscriptions
Actress and singer Bella Thorne broke the internet in 2020 after making $1 million in her first 24 hours on the platform
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famous for her provocative and parody-style content
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unfiltered posts keep fans coming back and subscribing
Singer and influencer Pia Mia may have found limited success in mainstream music
she's banked an impressive $16 million (£12 million) with a mix of glamour shots and personal updates
YouTuber and internet personality Trisha Paytas rounds out the top ten
having made $12 million (£9 million) since 2021
Known for her outrageous videos and loyal fan following
Trisha's pivot to subscription content has proved a lucrative move
OnlyFans has transformed from a niche content platform into a global symbol of creator independence
As it navigates the fine line between empowerment and exploitation
its evolution continues to challenge societal norms
Whether hailed as a revolutionary tool for financial freedom or criticised for its blurred moral terrain
OnlyFans is undeniably a mirror reflecting our complex relationship with fame
This Netflix series is a veritable pageant of sophisticated anxiety and dread
Does your heart at present feel like an overripe nectarine that has been squeezed once too often
and so I’m going to issue a kind of health warning with this review of Adolescence
a Netflix series created by the prolific writer Jack Thorne (too many dazzling hits to mention) and the actor Stephen Graham (another work hound)
It is a veritable pageant – albeit of a very low-key and sophisticated kind – of anxiety and dread
and watching it may make you feel oddly frail
though I want hugely to know what happens – did the boy do it
and even if he wasn’t so small and bonny and freckled
Children killing each other: it’s an awful and unfathomable thing
a single camera doggedly following the cast around
and no matter if they’re only walking along the airless corridor of a nick
The queasy-making bump-bump of another drama in which Graham appeared
is mercifully absent (the two have the same director
But the tension is nevertheless ramped: the journey from the boy’s home to the police station in the early hours
the fresh linen of a day already stained with fear and misery
Thorne has (I’m guessing) done some fine research
The details are closely observed: the drills
Fifteen minutes in and we don’t know who has died
Information is given as it would be by police officers
CCTV footage – is produced like a rabbit from a hat at just the right moment
the better to catch out this baby-faced suspect
But the most important thing by far is the cast
you can’t even tell that’s what they’re doing: I had to remind myself out loud that it was all artifice; that somewhere out of sight
a make-up artist was doubtless ready with a brush and some powder
and I wonder where the hell they found him
He’s brilliant: convincingly tearful but able
to suggest something (the truth?) withheld
His performance is hard to watch in the best way
a plumber whose van boasts of its driver’s friendliness and reliability
his emotions permanently ready to spill over the sides of the tower of himself
like quicklime in some never-ending medieval battle
His character operates in the uncommon space between the horror of what’s happening and the day-to-day
switching from gravity to a kind of casual insouciance
is the space we must inhabit ourselves for as long as we are watching
Thorne clearly hopes to stir sympathy in us; he wants us to resist the notion of evil and monsters and all that
and the eyes and the heart must grasp the entirety of this
Even if his series can’t make sense of children killing children
just what happened before they were stupid and angry enough to leave the house armed with a knife
[See also: Why Britain isn’t working]
This article appears in the 12 Mar 2025 issue of the New Statesman, Why Britain isn’t working
By ALEX BRUMMER CITY EDITOR
We meet at Dignity's cavernous death palace on an industrial estate in Walthamstow, east London, from where many funerals in the north and east of the capital are organised.
Byng-Thorne is philosophical about the abrupt career change. 'At the heart of it, it is still about delivering services to consumers.
'We are helping people with something that really matters. It's at a point in their lives when they don't have muscle memory or experience and need to be guided through it,' she earnestly explains.
Death is all around us as we speak. An acrid smell of formaldehyde pervades the atmosphere. But the floor below us is a hive of activity.
Shining black hearses are lining up for the day's burials and cremations. New bodies, 'guests' as they are referred, head for short-term preparation and refrigeration.
Revival: Zillah Byng-Thorne is engaged in a complex turnaround at Dignity
In the next room embalmers are at work preparing bodies for dispatch. In the workshop a carpenter is hammering a silk lining into a dark, teak coffin replete with shining brass handles.
As she takes me from department to department Byng-Thorne, clad in dark trousers and a colourful top, seems remarkably at ease with all that is going on around her.
It is hard to avert one's eyes from a sign outside the arrivals cold store which reminds colleagues not to forget the trays designed to collect bodily fluids draining from the deceased.
When Zillah was asked to become chief executive of Dignity, which had been taken private by insurance pioneer Peter Wood and associate Gary Channon at Castlenau Investments, she wasn't sure she could deal with the subject matter.
'So as part of my due diligence I wanted to go and visit some of the funeral directors and make sure I was happy spending my days talking about death... it made me realise how much care and compassion they have every day,' she says.
Wood and Channon, who seek to restore great British brands including philately specialist Stanley Gibbons to past glory, paid £300 million for Dignity in May 2023 – £800 million including debt.
Byng-Thorne showed her entrepreneurial skills to Wood when he injected his comparison website GoCompare into Future in 2021.
'When I go out now someone asks me what I do, I smile and say that I am a funeral director. It's a conversation stopper,' she says.
Byng-Thorne, a mother of five sons – three of her own and two stepsons – is engaged in a complex turnaround.
Dignity, with 600 branches across the British Isles, has down the decades been allowed to atrophy. It is also engaged in a running battle with the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), over inherited funeral insurance plans which went wrong.
It must also contend with the consequences of a competition finding that eroded profit margins.
More recently it is having to contend with a 'shocking' rise in costs for a workforce of 4,000 due to the Chancellor's swingeing rise in employers' National Insurance.
One of the unresolved challenges are the 60,000 funeral plans which Dignity, as the largest player in the market, took on when the operators went bust. It was hoped that the cost of providing these burials would be covered by funds locked up by the trustees of the plans.
Instead, Byng-Thorne says, they are 'incentivised to take as much time as possible to payout because they earn more fees'.
Adding to her woes is the FCA, which bills Dignity every time there is a complaint from a grieving relative about not getting the funeral they paid for.
So far it has shelled out some £5 million on the burials it took on and has an exposure of another £50 million. 'It's not made my life any easier,' she says. As for the FCA Byng-Thorne is totally dismissive: 'They are being totally unhelpful, pathetic and ineffective arguing that because the plans were not regulated at the time it has no jurisdiction.'
'It is a long, lingering mess at the most traumatic moment in someone's life,' she adds.
but it's sort of like PPI (personal protection insurance) and car finance scandals.'
With a large family of men and five female French bulldogs to look after
Byng-Thorne has striven to develop a work-life balance as she has climbed the corporate ladder
She trained as an accountant while working for Nestle before taking on senior finance roles at GE Capital
Threshers and Fitness First before ascending to the top job at Future where
she accumulated salary and bonuses of £8.8 million
She managed to cope with her job and household with the assistance of two nannies
a mother she called upon in emergencies and by restricting extra-curricular activities
As a matter of principle she avoids evening events such as corporate dinners making the effort to be at home with family and dogs
Byng-Thorne has a mammoth task ahead modernising Dignity and making it viable again
'The tech infrastructure is poor and we still print off invoices and send them off in the post...We've been through four chief executives in two years
hopefully I will make more than six months.'
She thinks the assisted dying bill could help reset things 'if people start leaving their affairs in a certain order'
Byng-Thorne's own mother has said to her that there is no point in writing a will as she has no estate
A good send-off: Funeral firm Dignity has 600 branches across the British Isles
'The reality is that it is about leaving your affairs in an orderly
It starts with writing a will then buying a funeral plan and moving on and having a broader conversation
with Dignity providing probate services too
Dying in the capital can be an expensive affair
In some areas of the country there are no plots at all
The company is obliged to maintain burial sites (often on hundred-year leases) which are full
It has also had to learn to set up Muslim burial grounds within cemeteries facing towards Mecca
can be a nightmare due to Government legislation around doctors' certificates
which has made it harder to release the deceased into Dignity's care
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Tanyel Gumushan
Let The Right One In will tour the UK later this year
Based on the best-selling vampire novel and film by Jon Ajvide Lindqvist
who only has a Rubik’s Cube and his imagination for company
The supernatural thriller was recently announced as part of Bristol Old Vic’s new season
It is adapted for the stage by Jack Thorne
This production premiered at Manchester’s Royal Exchange in 2022
Thorne said today: ‘It was such a privilege to adapt Let The Right One In
a story that is so deceptive in terms of the way it looks at genre
I am so excited that more people are going to have the opportunity to see Bryony Shanahan’s sinewy dangerous production.”
Let The Right One In will open its tour at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate on 16 October 2025
before visiting Bromley Churchill Theatre (28 October to 1 November)
it’ll visit Fareham Live (13 to 17 January 2026)
Southend Palace Theatre (27 to 31 January)
Eastbourne Devonshire Park (3 to 7 February)
Birmingham Rep (17 to 21 March) and Liverpool Everyman (14 to 18 April)
It also contains strong language and mature themes
The pair of Tony Award nominees performed a selection of numbers
Get the best deals and latest updates on theatre and shows by signing up for WhatsOnStage newsletter today
Rio Tinto Board Director and former Global Chair of Deloitte
Sharon has extensive experience of auditing and advising global clients across a broad range of sectors
she held numerous Executive and Board roles before becoming Deputy CEO and Managing Partner Global and Strategy
Deloitte North-West Europe in 2017 and Global Chair from 2019
She played a key role in supporting the globalisation and transformation of Deloitte
substantively improved governance and oversight globally and was a key advocate for developing Deloitte’s global approach to sustainability and climate change
Sharon’s various leadership roles at Deloitte included running significant parts of the UK business and
leading Deloitte UK’s ‘people and purpose’ agenda
She governed significant parts of the Deloitte network
including the CIS and spent 14 years on the global board
Sharon has long championed greater diversity in senior leadership roles
She is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and holds a degree in PPE from Oxford University
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See what’s coming this autumn and winter
Exclusive: Bristol Old Vic has today unveiled a wad of shows as part of its 2025 season
The venue is looking forward to autumn and winter by celebrating its city with local stories and writers
Kicking off the season is the previously announced return of Starter for Ten starring Mel Giedroyc
The new musical will open at Bristol Old Vic on 10 September and play until 11 October
before visiting Birmingham Rep Theatre from 22 October to 1 November
directed by Bristol-based award-winning director Tanuja Amarasuriya
This co-production of Noël Coward’s timeless piece comes from Octagon Theatre Bolton
supported by a grant from the Royal Theatrical Support Trust
It’ll play in Bristol from 28 October to 1 November
Amarasuriya will also direct Tim X Atack’s queer sci-fi heartbreaker Delay which opens in the Weston Studio this summer from 19 June to 5 July
the venue will host Jack Thorne’s (Adolescence
Toxic Town) adaptation of the vampire hit Let the Right One In
Based on the Swedish novel and film by Jon Ajvide Lindqvist
who only has a Rubik’s Cube and his imagination for company
The production is a Royal Exchange Theatre revival of their 2022 production
and presented in association with Marla Rubin Productions Ltd
Bristol Old Vic will present Robert Louis Stevenson’s adventure novel Treasure Island
created by The Great British Bake Off Musical creators
Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary (who met at Bristol University)
has been reimagined based on their love of the city
It’ll dive into the venue from 3 December 2025 to 10 January 2026
Little Bulb will also return with some festive fun
plays in the Studio from 5 December 2025 to 10 January 2026
Frantic Assembly will mark their 30th anniversary in the new year in a co-production with Curve
Mayflower Southampton and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre
Lost Atoms is written by Anna Jordan and directed by Scott Graham
It’ll stop off in Bristol from 13 to 24 January 2026 as part of its tour
Further highlights include Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho (15 October to 18 October)
The Paper Dolls (28 October to 1 November) and Uncanny: Afraid of the Dark (18 November to 22 November)
She has extensive experience of auditing and advising global clients across a broad range of sectors
She played a key role supporting the globalisation and transformation of Deloitte
Sharon’s various leadership roles at Deloitte included running significant parts of the UK business and prior to this leading Deloitte UK’s people and purpose agenda
Sharon is an advocate for collective action on environmental sustainability and climate change and is a strong believer in the need for greater diversity
and inclusion in business and civil society
and she has long championed greater diversity in senior leadership roles
Sharon is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and has a BA (Hons) Philosophy
Politics and Economics from Oxford University
Current appointments: Rio Tinto plc Board Director and member of the Audit and Risk Committee; Common Goal Advisory Board member; Deloitte Centre for Sustainable Progress Advisory Council Member
Previous appointments include: Social Progress Imperative Board Director; Climate Governance Initiative Advisory Board member; Accounting 4 Sustainability Advisory Council member; CBI Board Director and Audit Committee Chair; Prostate Cancer UK Trustee
James Thorne of Columbia Threadneedle - kindly takes me through his view of the markets and latest thoughts on 17 companies
00:00 Outlook for UK mid/smallcaps03:45 Chemring07:25 Avingtrans10:30 Inspecs12:50 Oxford Instruments16:20 Paypoint19:10 Trainline21:55 Auction Technologies25:05 Tekmar27:15 Crest Nicholson32:10 Eleco34:55 Activeops38:25 Yougov41:05 Microlise45:05 Oxford Biomedica51:00 Everplay54:20 Bridgepoint60:15 Favourite stock idea for the year ahead - IG Group (NOT a recommendation)
0Disclaimer & Declaration of InterestThe information
investment views and recommendations in this article are provided for general information purposes only
Nothing in this article should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engaging in any other transaction
Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the writer but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments
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00:00 Outlook for UK mid/smallcaps03:45 Chemring07:25 Avingtrans10:30 Inspecs12:50 Oxford Instruments16:20 Paypoint19:10 Trainline21:55 Auction Technologies25:05 Tekmar27:15 Crest Nicholson32:10 Eleco34:55 Activeops38:25 Yougov41:05 Microlise45:05 Oxford Biomedica51:00 Everplay54:20 Bridgepoint60:15 Favourite stock idea for the year ahead - IG Group (NOT a recommendation)
the Gerald Thorne Championship in Wellington Ex-Services Skittles League tightened dramatically as the chasing pack seized their opportunity
Reservists and Holywell Lake both moved to within just four points of top spot
while Home Guard II kept their hopes flickering with a thumping win over Report Centre A
kept their momentum rolling with a confident win over a spirited Nynehead Club
This week’s featured team (pictured above) are Rebels who play in the Gerald Thorne Championship
Newly crowned champions Ex-Servicemen kept up their winning form with a 25-pin win away to an in-form Nynehead Club side
Nynehead captain Tom O’Neil was the standout player for his side
The X-Men enjoyed a lead of 11 pins at the halfway stage and managed to pull further ahead with Kev Denslow the player of the match with a fantastic 59
they are safe from a bottom place finish in their debut season thanks to some strong wins earlier in the campaign
they finish their season with a home match against Home Guard IV
The battle for the runner-up shield took a twist as Mowers saw off Scuppas in a close game at the Cottage with five pins separating the sides
who were just a little shy of their home average
John Dodden and Stephen Foster both hit solid 55s for Mowers who found a touch more consistency to take the game and the valuable points
The win sees Mowers move to within one point of Scuppas in second
with it all resting on the final match of the season next week
while Scuppas play the Rugby Club away and a win will see the runners-up shield staying at the Cottage
It was a close game between stablemates United Services and Foresters at the White Horse
with Foresters taking the game by just one pin
Andy Gamlin scored 64 for United Services who totalled over 400 for the seventh time this season when playing as the home side
Foresters saw Rob Morgan score a remarkable 78 in their chase
as he helped his team over the line to claim the points
It was a low scoring but close game at the Institute as Here 4 the Beer went down to All Stars by seven pins
Fin Jennings had scored a solid 47 for the home side
it was Paul Desborough who led the way with 46 in their successful chase
with the away side managing to pick up a few more vital pins along the way
Odds and Ends picked up a strong win against King Pins
a team who have enjoyed some good form of late themselves
Simon Lidell and Pete Wratten were the players of the match with scores of 54 apiece for Odds and Ends
who hit their third highest home score of the season
one of the King Pins’ standout players this season
but despite hitting a solid score themselves
King Pins finish their season on Thursday against United Services at the White Horse
Home Guard IV hit their highest home score of the season to win the upstairs/downstairs derby at the Conservative Club with a six-pin victory over Outsiders
Pete Spencer scored a vital 61 for the hosts
helping them set an intimidating total on the tricky alley
Ron Smith was the top scorer of the match with a great 64 for Outsiders
but despite putting in a great effort the side fell just short of their total
it was a chance for the chasing pack to close the gap in the race for top spot
seeing off OBA by 35 pins at the Institute
Darren Sparks led the way for his team with a fantastic 59
Paul Beer’s 50 was the highlight of their evening
with the away side struggling to match the scoring of Reservists
The win takes Reservists to within four points of first place and puts some pressure on Cottage Pies who play Oaks in their next game
Holywell Lake also moved to within four points of Cottage Pies after they beat Hot Shots by 20 pins at the Victoria Arms
Scott Newberry scored a good 57 for the Lakers
Martin Kerslake was the top scorer for Hot Shots with 53
but despite the away side playing well they could not keep pace with the Ken Bright Cup champions
The Lakers are away to Club Rockers in their next game with a vital three points on offer
Home Guard II kept their slim title chances alive with a huge 65-pin win over Report Centre A at the Football Club
with Macca Campbell hitting the top score of the match with 55 for the home side
but the away side struggled to find their form
Home Guard II play away to Hot Shots in their next game
Bell Green moved to within three points of third place with a narrow win over Club Rockers on the upstairs alley of the Victoria Arms
Will Essex and Mark Wardell both scored 53 for the Bee Gees
who went on to set a strong score on the night
Conner Perry played well for the Rockers with his 61 the top score of the match
but the away side went down by the narrowest of margins after putting in a great effort
Queens Legs came away from the Cottage with the three points after a two-pin win against Rebels
Chris Plant had scored decent 53 for Rebels
providing a highlight on an otherwise difficult night for the home side
it was Danny Hayman’s 56 which took the top score of the match
Rebels will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they play away to Report Centre A
Oaks saw off the challenge of Fireguard A by 46 pins when the two sides met at the Blue Ball
Larry Heal hit 48 in the Fireguard A reply
but the away side couldn’t find the same rhythm as Oaks and the game got away from them
They will have a chance to get back to winning ways next up with a home game against Relyon
Outsiders – 397 at the Conservative Club (Upstairs)
Ron Smith – 64 for Outsiders at the Conservative Club (Upstairs)
King Pins v United Services at the Victoria Arms (upstairs)
Cyril Hicks Singles Finals Night – 8pm at the RG Institute (playing order to be decided on the night)
Relyon v Shooters at the Conservative Club (downstairs)
Harry Dowson Pairs Finals Night – 8pm at the Cottage Inn (playing order to be decided on the night)
All Stars v Nynehead Club at the Victoria Arms (downstairs)
Ex-Servicemen v Home Guard IV at the Cottage Inn
Foresters v Here 4 the Beer at the White Horse Inn (Bradford)
WRFC v Scuppas at the Conservative Club (downstairs)
Club Rockers v Holywell Lake at the RG Institute
Hot Shots v Home Guard II at the Conservative Club (downstairs)
OBA v Bell Green at the Victoria Arms (upstairs)
Report Centre A v Rebels at the White Horse Inn (Bradford)
Shooters v Reservists at the Victoria Arms (downstairs)
Around Wellington Sport is sponsored by Tone Gate Motors – visit their website by CLICKING HERE
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“Weird things like people saying I’m Jewish when I’m not; it’s been very odd.”
While Thorne did not comment on the significance of the false claims about his religion, the misidentification of public figures as Jewish is not uncommon. High-profile individuals, including actors, politicians, and journalists, have often been the subject of similar rumours, sometimes used to shape narratives about their background or influence.
The backlash against Thorne follows the overwhelming success of Adolescence, a four-part crime drama exploring incel culture and social media’s role in shaping young men’s attitudes.
The series, which follows the arrest of a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering his female classmate, has topped Netflix’s global viewing charts and sparked political debate.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer referenced Adolescence during Prime Minister’s Questions this week, saying he watched it with his children and acknowledging that “this violence carried out by young men, influenced by what they see online, is a real problem; it’s abhorrent, and we have to tackle it.”
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Interview Toxic Town writer Jack Thorne: ‘The industry is in panic – people aren’t telling the stories they want to’As his series about the Corby toxic waste scandal lands on Netflix, the prolific dramatist talks to Gabriel Tate about about activism
autism and why television has an originality problem
Toxic Town tells the story of a group of Corby mothers including Susan McIntyre (Jodie Whittaker)
Tracey Taylor (Aimee Lou Wood) and Maggie Mahon (Claudia Jessie)
Aided by local solicitor Des Collins (Rory Kinnear) and whistleblower Sam Hagen (Robert Carlyle)
they took the Labour-run council to court to prove the link between the dust created during the reclamation of a shuttered British Steel works between 1984 and 1999
and the disproportionately high numbers of children born with limb difference over that period
Talking over Zoom from his north London home
self-effacing and diligent (he follows up over email to clarify a couple of answers he worried – unnecessarily – were garbled or poorly phrased) and was surely the only choice to write this; an absolutely engrossing
moving and witty slice of social commentary with a big
Like virtually everyone involved in the show
he also had no idea about the case until he was approached by executive producer Annabel Jones
With the exception of a dogged Sunday Times journalist
it made few headlines at the time and only a 2020 Horizon documentary has revisited it since the verdict in 2009; an extraordinary state of affairs for both a landmark legal case and a compelling human-interest story
he declares himself both “incredibly moved and incredibly jealous” about the impact of ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office
one of the finest examples of an underreported outrage given fresh impetus by TV drama
making this show was about them feeling people hadn’t paid attention
because working-class disabled kids aren’t high on anyone’s agenda,” Thorne explains
“No one said this case was going to be won
yet they pursued it for years when others would have crumbled
trying to keep a roof over their families’ heads while their kids were in and out of hospital
This story doesn’t want for heroes: Susan is a dauntless
filterless force of nature; Tracey the quiet
grieving mum stepping up even after unthinkable betrayal; Maggie is torn between her child and the husband (Joe Dempsie) who
would risk his family’s livelihood by speaking out
reeling from the influx of 11,000 newly unemployed in a town of 50,000 after the plant’s closure
prioritised regeneration and jobs lest their town meet the same grim fate as many mining communities
While their reasoning is given a fair hearing
waste (and its disposal) was clearly a secondary consideration
similar errors of judgement loom under the current Labour government
talking of slashing regulations and prioritising growth – a potentially calamitous trade-off of prosperity against public health put into sharpest focus by water companies dumping sewage into our rivers and seas
I hope there’s analysis into the true cost of waste
but it doesn’t feel like a particular concern to Rachel Reeves
“Red tape and planning laws are what protect us,” argues Thorne
what was supposed to be an emergency measure is now part of the economic model
in pain or died because of the air they breathed
We’re about to get into a huge thing with the AI revolution and the modular power stations that could fuel it – but at what cost
I hope there’s some analysis going on into the true cost of waste
I’m still a Labour Party member and really believe in the cause
I just hope someone’s asking the right questions.”
Born in Bristol and raised in Newbury during the bypass protests
“I became the Young Labour officer for Newbury constituency party and we’d have meetings about where we stood on this or that
My dad’s a town planner and the only person alive who would say
It’s what defines people like Sam Hagen and my dad
people who put the public good first and don’t worry about being disliked
That constant call to action and civic duty never left me.”
It was at university that Thorne discovered his vocation after ditching early thoughts of politics and acting
he turned to writing and hasn’t ever really stopped
describing it as “almost a psychological dependency”
It was also here that he developed a chronic condition called cholinergic urticaria that left him bed-bound and allergic to his own body heat
He was later diagnosed with autism after a listener to his Desert Island Discs episode suggested it was worth consideration
and is now perhaps television’s foremost champion of disability and representation both on and off camera
Aside from his many high-profile projects addressing the issue
Thorne launched the TV Access Project (TAP) in 2022
aimed at “full inclusion for disabled people working in TV by 2030” and in part prompted by the Covid response suggesting “we decided as a society that we could divide deaths in two”
Thorne declares himself delighted with the progress made
“Statistics and behaviours on set are improving,” he says
“Conversations are happening at really high levels [10 major broadcasters and streamers have so far signed up] about access to work
and the wording around studios is that broadcasters will only work with TAP-audited production spaces
Parenthood is another leitmotif of his work and indeed our conversation
I find programmes about children in pain (or worse) almost unbearably hard to watch
yet his work in the eight years since he and his wife Rachel had their son Elliott has included not only Toxic Town but The Accident (children are killed in an industrial accident) and Best Interests (parents disagree over removing life support from their terminally ill daughter)
“There are times when Elliott gets a tighter hug at the end of a day of writing,” he says
“Being a dad is the most remarkable thing that ever happened to me
understanding that sort of love… I can’t stop writing about it
because those feelings are so different to how I expected my life to be
and because I can’t stop thinking about him.”
Thorne caters for younger audiences as adeptly as older ones
Big franchise tilts include the BBC’s His Dark Materials and Netflix’s Enola Holmes films on screen
and spin-offs of Stranger Things and Harry Potter on stage
While he understandably demurs about discussing JK Rowling’s baleful online presence (“it just leads to too many problems”)
he is proud of smuggling chewy issues into his most defiantly mainstream work
but with the second one we told the story of the match girls’ strike and the importance of collective action
Whereas we really believed in Best Interests
but it didn’t have the impact we wanted because I think a lot of people went: ‘Oh
but it made me think a lot about my writing
Toxic Town is an intriguing choice for Netflix and
a heartening example of the streamer making a local show they anticipate will travel
But his take on the TV landscape is one of depressing conservatism
“I think the domestic industry is in panic
Questions of what will sell and bring an audience are being asked way too early
We are too reliant on true crime and existing IP and
while I’m able to work a path through that
it’s people that don’t have a career who are walking into a shitpit
Lots of people in our industry aren’t telling the stories they want to
Thorne hates the word “prolific” and confesses to sleepless nights worrying about “stealing other people’s thunder”
but in truth his work demonstrates the variety and potential of television drama as social commentary
a one-shot four-part Netflix drama on knife crime and masculinity
a BBC series on Bill Shankly and the symbiosis between football and the city
Projects on the phone-hacking scandal (for ITV) and a love story rooted in faith (for Channel 4) were announced within days of our conversation
confirming the respect he commands across the board
declared: “I don’t quite know how other people work
looking at them and going: ‘I understand how you’re talking
but I don’t quite know how to get involved in the conversation’.”
How does a garlanded master of the “empathy box” (five Baftas and counting) square this with his precise
emotionally perceptive dialogue and character writing
“The wearing of masks is where autism made sense to me
because working out what mask I need to wear to make you think I’m OK is exhausting,” he says
“My ideal dinner party would be a load of people sat in another room
because it’s like you’re having dinner with people
but you don’t have to be the one that talks
‘Toxic Town’ launches on Netflix on Thursday 27 February
More aboutJack ThorneJodie WhittakerRachel ReevesNetflixCorbyJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
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the prolific dramatist talks to Gabriel Tate about about activism
Managing director Shona Thorne is not one to let an opportunity slip through her fingers
when employee Candice resigned from her role as a travel advisor at Thorne Travel to go and work at a special needs school
Shona enlisted her help to become the agency’s ambassador in the school
“Candice now works for us on an ad hoc basis,” explains Shona
“She brings the parents in and works as a consultant on the booking
She also knows sign language so she has helped at consultations for customers in the local deaf community.” Through this entrepreneurial partnership
Thorne Travel has helped dozens of clients with accessible needs to go on holiday
even arranging for adjustable beds and medical care where needed
Another enterprising masterstroke has seen Thorne Travel recruit hand-picked clients as ambassadors
inviting them to informally share their travel experiences during “tipsy teas” hosted in the agency
The ambassadors can choose their own rewards
from money off future bookings to cases of wine
Keen not to put all the agency’s eggs in the Facebook basket
the team have been experimenting with different social platforms
Sharing more unique video content has also been a business priority
A former BBC editor has made bespoke versions of supplier videos for the agency
while advisors have also been trained in film and editing – skills they use to make videos during their own travels that can be shared with customers
But Thorne Travel hasn’t lost faith in traditional marketing – working with Royal Mail
the agency rolled out a successful postcard campaign last year
targeting households in key postcode areas of potential customers
And the agency’s recent examples of going the extra mile include coming to the aid of some cruise clients with missing luggage
The team helped the clients gain early access to the ship’s boutiques and secured crew rates for their purchases
The luggage – which never made it out of Glasgow airport – was safely retrieved and stored by the Thorne Travel team member who then met the clients at the airport to reunite them with their belongings
thornetravel.com
TTG Media Limited.Place of registration: England and Wales.Company number 08723341.Registered address: 2-6 Boundary Row
News | UK
Adolescence creator Jack Thorne is to see his play Let The Right One In embark on a UK tour
which is based on the best-selling Swedish novel and award-winning film by Jon Ajvide Lindqvist
will begin in Northampton in October this year and finish in Liverpool in April 2026
following a sold-out run at Manchester’s Royal Exchange
Thorne said: “It was such a privilege to adapt Let The Right One In
“I am so excited that more people are going to have the opportunity to see Bryony Shanahan’s sinewy dangerous production.”
It comes after Netflix series Adolescence, which Thorne co-wrote with actor Stephen Graham
prompted a number of conversations around so-called incel (involuntary celibate) culture
which has led to misogyny online and bullying using social media
The crime drama is about a boy accused of killing a girl in his class and stars This Is England actor Graham, who plays Eddie Miller, the father of 13-year-old Jamie
who sees armed police burst into his home to arrest his son
Eddie is then chosen as Jamie’s appropriate adult
and learning the extent of what his son is accused of doing
The pair have since accepted an invitation to a parliamentary meeting by Labour MP Josh McAlister to discuss online safety with MPs
It comes after Thorne advocated for the show to be shown in Parliament and schools
with Sir Keir Starmer indicating that it should during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions
The Prime Minister said he watched the programme with his children
and added that “this violence carried out by young men
During an interview with BBC Two’s current affairs programme Newsnight
Thorne said he hopes “we can use this moment to provoke this government to consider quite serious change” and called for a social media and smartphone ban for young people
He referenced that the Australian senate has passed a social media ban for young children
and it’s about getting inside all these different systems.”
From a 'chubby filter' to 'what I eat in a day' videos: TikTok's body image problem
Lindt opens doors on central London chocolate ‘paradise’
How Give Your Best aims to solve clothing poverty in the UK
He admitted there were “good” things about social media and gaming
but stressed the Government should legislate to protect teenagers and see “what change that could bring to our society”
Australia is set to make platforms including TikTok
and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (£25 million) if they systematically do not prevent those younger than 16 from holding accounts
The Let The Right One In tour will begin on October 16
with tickets available from the play’s website
Prince Louis steals the show at VE Day parade as he keeps dad William looking sharp and mimics brother George
Prince Louis steals show with sweet antics at VE parade
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Channel 4 has commissioned a new six-part series from Jack Thorne
which presents the RTS Award-winning writer’s first ever love story
Falling will tell the story of two deeply religious characters
A devoted nun who has spent most of her adult life in a convent
a catholic priest committed to his work in the church and his Bristol community
both experience a crisis of faith as they try to reconcile their love with their relationship with God
who commissioned the series as Director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama
“Jack Thorne’s scripts are not only profoundly moving
and revelatory in their examination of religion in contemporary society.”
The Forge Entertainment are producing the series
told the Sunday Mirror the cancer was discovered at an early stage and said he was hopeful of making a full recovery
He said: “My psychiatrist said I needed a set of blood tests as a matter of routine and they came back showing a problem
“A scraping of the front of my prostrate showed up the cancer cells and now doctors are having to carry out a scraping of the back of the prostate to see if there has been any spread.”
Thorne will await the results that will determine what happens next
a former UK Championship runner-up who has forged a career as a snooker commentator with the BBC since retiring from playing
He said: “I feel numb with everything that has gone on
But I am determined to summon the strength and fight
“I’m scared because I’ve spent two years living a lie with the gambling
depression and debts – I do wonder if this has been brought on by the stress.”
SERIES MANIA: James Norton and Kitty Kaletsky’s Rabbit Track Pictures is turning Suzanne Heywood’s memoir Wavewalker into a four-part drama
with Jack Thorne (Adolescence) writing the scripts
The Banijay-backed prodco has optioned the rights to Heywood’s book
which charts her childhood in the 1970s when
she set sail with her brother and parents on a three-year voyage – that turned into a decade-long journey before Suzanne fought her parents for the right to return home and have access to the education and stability she had long been denied
with Banijay Rights on board to distribute the series – details of which were revealed during a Talent Masterclass session here in Lille featuring actor Norton (Happy Valley
his producing partner and company MD Kaletsky and Banijay UK CEO Patrick Holland
“This is an incredible book,” Kaletsky said
“It’s a memoir we optioned by Suzanne who wrote the story of her childhood in the 1970s
We’re going to sail around the world following Captain Cook’s journey
“This roguish father paints this beautiful picture about this trip they’re going to take – it’s meant to take a year or two and ends up taking about 15 and the two children were basically enslaved by their father as crew members on this boat,” Norton continues
“He denied them their youth and their education
It’s about the young girl who against the off fights for that right to an education and to life
and the struggle between this very charismatic father who loves his daughter dearly
and the cruelty he’s putting on her and her brother
Thorne was the first person they shared the project with
building on the writer’s relationship with Norton after they worked together on Netflix feature Joy
Norton will be playing the father character
“who is on the one hand an incredibly inspiring
charismatic imaginative and wonderful person – the sort of father that everyone dreams of having if they want the Swallows & Amazons lifestyle – but he is as well a deeply narcissistic and navel gazing
The series also promises “literal peril,” as the family face tidal waves
“What we’re all interested in is how a parent treats their child
But there are the death-defying experiences they went through
There’s real scale to it as well as real heart
Kaletsky also revealed Rabbit Track was close to securing a deal for format rights to Swedish drama End of Summer (Slutet på sommaren)
an “incredibly moving and arresting story of a grievance counsellor who becomes convinced her long lost brother has turned up in one of her sessions.” The original 2023 series is produced by Harmonica Films for streamer Viaplay
Two people have been arrested following the death of a man in Thorne
South Yorkshire Police say that on Tuesday 8 April at 11.14pm they were called to Orchard Street in Thorne to reports of a death
Emergency services attended and a 47-year-old man was found unresponsive
despite the best efforts of medical personnel
Police say the man’s family has been informed and is being supported by specialist officers
a 38-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman have been arrested on suspicion of murder and remain in police custody
Detective Chief Inspector Simon Cartwright said: “We are in the early stages of the investigation
At this time the man’s cause of death is unexplained and our team of detectives are working hard to establish the circumstances surrounding this incident
“We have now arrested two people on suspicion of murder and are keen to hear from anyone with any information that could help our investigation
“You can contact us online or by calling 101
Please quote incident number 1091 of 10 April 2025 when you get in touch.”
South Yorkshire Police’s online portal is available HERE
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or online HERE