There are tough times in TV and Christine Bleakley has felt it having been asked to accept a pay-cut for presenting The One Show with Adrian Chiles.
Bleakley has been on £100,000 contract with the BBC and has now confirmed a further 2 year contract deal but at a much lower salary than she is used to.
A source said:
“The BBC played serious hardball over this. Their view was that nobody is worth holding on to at any cost anymore. They figure there are plenty of stars out there who can replace people who demand too much.”
However she hasn’t caused a fuss and excepted the amended deal. The reason being that she enjoys working on the show and understands the financial pressures the BBC is under due to the current economic climate.
Well its almost that time of the year when the red carpet is lit in Hollywood.
On the 27Th February Hollywood will be bursting full of high profile actors and actresses dreaming of winning an Oscar for the work they have put into movies and films from the past year.
The Oscars started in 1927 at M-G-M’s studio by Louis B. Mayer and three of his guests – actor Conrad Nagel, director Fred Niblo and producer Fred Beetson who decided to create an organisation where members of the film industry were credited for there participation. Winners are awarded with what used to be called ‘The Academy Award of Merit’ which is now more commonly know as an ‘Oscar’ after Academy librarian, Margaret Herrick, remarked that the statuette resembled her Uncle Oscar, and the staff began referring to it as such.
The Oscars have grown to be the most pretigious award given to someone in the film industry.
This year there is a bit of a dog fight for the big awards ‘Best Actor and Actress’ with nominees such as Mickey Rourke, Brad Pitt and Sean Penn for Best Actor and Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie for Best Actress. Rourke and Winslet won a Bafta (Britains version of the Oscars) earlier this month for the same category.
However, winning isn’t everything! The little Statue is just the icing on the cake when there are a range of Promotional Merchandise are available for just appearing to the show. In past years it has included the latest ultra-thin mobile phone, free holidays, a $1,500 voucher for dinner a coffee maker, which together with a toaster and kettle carries a price tag of $700 - not bad for just turning up.
This year should prove to be an award ceremony to remember!
The Saturdays have confirmed that they are feeling the pressure about the up and coming new Comic Relief Single they have been asked to release.
They will be recording a cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’. The aim is of course to raise money for charity but due to the success of previous singles produced for Comic Relief the nerves have started to set in.
Rochelle Wisem said:-
“There is a lot of pressure on us because Comic Relief singles have gone to No.1 in the past and we want to sell enough.”
Another member of the band, Frankie Sandford has said that she has approached her boy friend Dougie Poyner from McFly for his advice. McFly released ‘All About You’ for comic relief back in 2005 and was a major success.
“McFly did a good job and got really involved when they released a song for Red Nose Day, and Dougie and I talked about it, absolutely,”
“We discussed how it’s normal to want to get involved with things, and give it your best. We feel the same and just want to do our bit.”
The British Academy Film Awards took place earlier this week at the Royal Opera House.
The ceremony used to happen in April or May, but this was changed back in 2002 so that is could precede the Oscars. The awards are mostly open to all nationalities, though there is an award for Best British Film and Best Newcomer.
It was Slumdog Millionaire that took the most awards at the Baftas this year against stiff competition like The Reader, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Doubt etc.. with a total of 7 awards.
The film was awarded with best film, best director (Danny Boyle), best music, best adapted screenplay (Simon Beaufoy) amongst others.
Although nominated for best actor, Dev Pate missed out to Mickey Rourke’s performance in The Wrestler and Kate Winslet walked away with best actress for her role in The Reader.
As expected, the late Heath Ledger was awarded best supporting actor for his fantastic version of the Joker in The Dark Knight.
As a surprising twist, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button only won three awards for best hair and makeup, best visual effects and best production despite being nominated for 11 Baftas.
Guests were all given complementary gifts for there participation in the show, consisting of various different promotional merchandise from the different sponsors.
The long standing panel member, Louis Walsh has reportedly put forward a proposal for £1.3 million for his participation on the hit British TV show.
Talks have been in progress with all the judges over renewing there current contracts and continuing discussions are taking place over Louis contract demands.
He feels as though his services are valued more than the £800,000 contract from last year and is looking to improve on it.
An insider said: “It may sound like a lot of money but that’s how Louis sees his market value.
“He is a key reason why The X Factor has become one of Britain’s most popular TV shows and he has had a lot of success in the ‘real world’ managing the likes of Boy-zone and West life.”
Walsh does have a huge fan base which Simon Cowell knows far too well after the massive amount of complains the show received when they considered replacing Walsh a few years back. This will only support the music managers claims that he ‘is worth more’ to the show than his current contract caters for.
Also Dannii Minogue fans will be pleased to hear that the speculation surrounding her being replaced in next years X Factor as a judge on the show have been put to rest. She has been offered a new contract to continue on the show.
Phillip Schofield is rumored to be getting paid 3 times more per show on the next series of All Star Mr than co-host Fern Britton which will no doubt cause a little tension between the two.
Schofield managed to land the deal as part of a £2 million golden handcuff deal with ITV. This means that he will get paid £45k per show whereas, Fern will receive £15k.
“Fern asked for the same pay cheque as Phil. But there isn’t a huge production budget,” a source told The Sun.
“Phillip’s pay is basically pre-agreed, while Fern is only on an exclusive daytime deal with ITV. Fern won’t be aware of this pay difference.”
Britton should have had a pay rise last year but because of the gastric band issue, she missed out on the opportunity.
Big Brother 10 is to be the last season of the show according to show bosses.
Channel 4 has been running the show for 10years now but due to failed attempts at revamping the shows format, the decision has been made to end the programme after season 10 is over.
A source said:
“Shortly after the Celebrity version of the show, key members of staff were told it was ‘highly unlikely’ to return. Everyone was disappointed but most people realise it has run its course.
“This year may be the final chance for many people to step inside the house, earn their 15 minutes of fame and cash in on the show’s popularity. There’s still a tiny hope it will return but it’s 99% certain it will be 10 and out for the show.”
Although the show paved the way for other programmes such as I’m a celebrity get me out of here and love island etc… i think its fair to say that its had its day and the right call has been made to end production.
What will Davina McCall do now?….
Although there was much speculation earlier this year that Dannii Minogue may be replaced in the up coming 2009 addition to the X Factor, it still remained inconclusive. However, it has now been reported that producers are looking to recruit a new judge.
Nothing has been confirmed yet but the X Factor team are said be ‘open-minded’ about replacing Dannii.
The contract negotiations are a long process and the final talks to determine her continuation on the TV show will not take place until March. If they decide to remove her from the panel it will only leave them a month to find a new judge.
A source said:-
“It’s no secret they like to revamp the show every year. The chatter about Dannii going is deafening,”
“But it has to be the right person, otherwise there is no point in replacing her. They want someone as good as Cheryl Cole, who has been sensational.”
Charlotte Church was once rumoured to be a possible replacement to Dannii if push came to shove but she has recently ruled out the possibility of joining the panel.
I am unsure that a replica of Cheryl Cole would be a good idea though. She is a unique addition to the panel which makes her stand out, I just cant see it working if someone else similar to her is brought on as a judge. They need someone will who can bring there own unique properties to the judging panel.
Comments on a replacement are welcome…….
ITV has decided to cease production on Heartbeat and its spin-off show The Royal after its current production run has been completed, however they have stock piled enough episodes to air another two series of the once popular traditional dramas this year and in 2010 - so don’t panic yet!
An ITV representative said:-
“Heartbeat and The Royal are an important part of ITV’s schedule and are currently in production,”
However, they didn’t want to comment on the future of the programmes after 2010.
Heartbeat, originally showed up on our screens in 1992 and at its peak brought in about 10million in viewers at its peak. The Royal is a spin off drama from Heartbeat and was launched in 2003 however, in recently both the shows figures have been suffering.
ITV has been reeling it in from the success of programmes such as Dancing On Ice and I’m A Celebrity. This success has been partly to blame for the end of these dramas and these shows may not be the only casualties as last week it was announced that ITV will be drawing back on production on police drama The Bill.
It was a shock to most people when suprisingly Ulrika Jonsson won Celebrity Big Brother earlier this week, however producers were pleased that she won.
It was Verne Troyer who was the bookies faviorate, however he finished in forth place and Ulrika took the title against Terry Christian in the final vote.
When Divina called the results out, Ulrika said:
“Oh my God, that’s just bonkers! It’s a fix.”
Its been said by a shows insider that:
“It is good to get a shock every so often. The last series of Big Brother was incredibly predictable, as it was the previous summer. It’s quite nice when you end up with a result which takes some people unawares.”
The source added:
“The bookies definitely got it wrong this time but maybe they were too hasty in going all out for Verne. After all, Ulrika survived the public vote again and again so there was always a core of support there for her.”
