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Radio 1 DJ and former Big Brother star Adele Roberts has announced she has bowel cancer and is having surgery to remove a tumour.

The 42-year-old presenter shared details on social media and said her diagnosis was confirmed just a few weeks ago, at the beginning of October.

Sharing a photo of herself smiling and wearing a hospital gown, giving a thumbs up sign, the star said that “so far the outlook is positive and I feel so lucky that I can be treated” but she needs to find out if the cancer has spread.

“It’s just the start of my journey but I’m going to give it everything I’ve got,” she added.

Roberts, from Southport, Merseyside, first found fame in the third series of Channel 4’s Big Brother in 2002, alongside housemates including Kate Lawler, Alison Hammond and Jade Goody, who was later diagnosed with cervical cancer and died in 2009.

In her post, she gave details about how her cancer was discovered and urged anyone with health concerns to get checked out.

“For a while now I’ve been struggling with my digestion,” she wrote. “Thanks to a conversation I had with my Dad a few years back I went to my GP for a check up. I’ll be honest, I was embarrassed but I also knew that it could be something serious. So I went just in case. I didn’t think anything of it at first and just assumed it might be food sensitivity.

Big Brother 3, featuring Kate Lawler, Alison Hammond, Jade Goody and PJ Ellis
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Roberts appeared in the third series of Big Brother alongside Kate Lawler, Alison Hammond and the late Jade Goody
BBC presenter Adele Roberts celebrates with her medal after finishing the London Marathon in 2017
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The star ran the London Marathon in 2017

“After a few phone calls I was sent for some examinations and checks. I was then diagnosed with bowel cancer. This was at the start of the month.

“It’s all happened so quickly and I’m so sorry to post something like this on here but I hope it helps anyone who might be worrying, or suffering in silence.”

She added: “The sooner you’re able to see your GP or talk to someone the sooner you can get help.

“If I hadn’t I might not be so lucky. As I’ve learned over the last few weeks, there’s no ‘normal’ with cancer.

“Sadly it can affect anyone, at any age, anytime. It doesn’t discriminate. Early detection can save your life.”

Roberts’ partner, actress Kate Holderness, also posted about the diagnosis, saying: “There have been lots of tears (mainly from me), lots of sleepless nights, but surprisingly there’s been a lot of laughing too. I can’t wait for Adele to tell you about those times when she’s on the mend.”

Radio 1 friends and colleagues including Clara Amfo and Scott Mills have shared messages of support.

“Everyone at Radio 1 – along with all our listeners – is wishing you a speedy recovery and we can’t wait to welcome you back on air soon,” a message on the station’s Twitter account said.

Roberts joined the BBC in 2012 as part of the Radio 1 Xtra team, before moving to Radio 1 in 2015 to host the Early Breakfast Show. In 2019, she appeared on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! alongside stars including Nadine Coyle, Kate Garraway and Caitlin Jenner.

She took over Radio 1’s Weekend Breakfast programme earlier in 2021.

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GB News fined £100,000 by Ofcom over Rishi Sunak programme

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GB News fined £100,000 by Ofcom over Rishi Sunak programme

GB News has been fined £100,000 for breaking impartiality rules over a programme featuring Rishi Sunak, Ofcom has said.

It comes after the media watchdog announced in May that the show called People’s Forum: The Prime Minister had breached broadcasting guidelines.

The programme featured then prime minister Mr Sunak answering questions from a studio audience and a presenter.

GB News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos said the fine was a “direct attack on free speech and journalism in the United Kingdom”.

“We believe these sanctions are unnecessary, unfair and unlawful,” he added.

The hour-long show, which aired on 12 February, prompted 547 complaints to Ofcom.

The regulator found earlier this year that while featuring Mr Sunak was fine in principle, “due weight” should have been given to an “appropriately wide range of significant views” other than the Conservatives.

Rishi Sunak in Chequers in October 2023. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Ofcom said Mr Sunak “had a mostly uncontested platform to promote the policies and performance of his government in a period preceding a UK general election,” which it recorded as a breach of impartiality rules.

The watchdog said “given the seriousness and repeated nature of this breach,” it had imposed a £100,000 financial penalty.

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GB News was also directed to “broadcast a statement of our findings against it, on a date and in a form determined by us”.

The TV channel is challenging the breach decision by judicial review and Ofcom will not enforce the sanction decision until those proceedings are concluded.

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Mr Frangopoulos insisted the show featuring Mr Sunak “was an important piece of public interest programming”, and that “appropriate steps” were taken to ensure due impartiality.

He added: “It was designed to allow members of the public to put their own questions directly to leading politicians.

“GB News chooses to be regulated and we understand our obligations under the Code.

“But, equally, Ofcom is obliged by law to uphold freedom of expression and apply its rules fairly and lawfully.”

Ofcom previously found GB News violated due impartiality rules in March over five programmes that featured Tory MPs as presenters.

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Comedian Marcus Brigstocke reveals he was addicted to pornography

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Comedian Marcus Brigstocke reveals he was addicted to pornography

Comedian Marcus Brigstocke has revealed he became addicted to pornography and received help to overcome the issue.

The TV star discussed the issue on The Hidden 20% podcast, saying he became addicted after he had an affair which led to the end of his first marriage.

Brigstocke, who has regularly been a panellist on Have I Got News For You and featured in the film Love Actually, said the “shame” from his affair “led to a lot of very dysfunctional behaviour”.

He told the podcast: “I’d stayed sober from drugs, alcohol, and my compulsive eating disorder, but I had become addicted to porn.

“I really had no idea that I was addicted to it. I sort of thought I looked at a normal amount of porn. Well, the normal amount of porn today is not like a normal amount of porn… before the internet.”

Brigstocke, 51, told host Ben Branson that most porn addicts “were addicted from about the age of 11”, saying it “profoundly alters your brain chemistry”.

“There are so many people with different depths of addiction to porn and to online social media,” he added. “But porn is the most toxic.”

The comedian said he would watch porn “all night, for the entire night”, before he received help to end his addiction.

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Brigstocke is now married to comedian Rachel Parris and the couple host a podcast called How Was It For You?

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Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell talks nerves, fame, and The Diplomat

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Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell talks nerves, fame, and The Diplomat

Rufus Sewell may seem to perfectly personify calm and confident characters in the acting world, but he admits he still struggles with public speaking.

“There’s nothing more terrifying,” he tells Sky News. “I remember having to do a reading at a church when I was very young and I was so nervous. I was at drama school, so people knew I wanted to be an actor, and as I was walking up towards the lectern I heard someone say, ‘this will be good’, and I completely froze.”

After portraying Prince Andrew in Scoop, which told the story of the royal’s infamous Newsnight interview in 2019, the British actor can now be seen on screen playing political superstar Hal Wyler in the second series of The Diplomat.

 Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew in the new Nextflix drama Scoop.
Pic: Netflix/PA
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Sewell also recently played Prince Andrew in Scoop. Pic: Netflix/PA

Despite his ability to inhabit his characters, both real and fictional, the “idea of speaking as myself” he says has always been “a horror”.

Even playing confident characters is nerve-wracking, he says, as it creates an internal battle between himself and the role. “I naturally, if left to my own devices, become very, very self-conscious, so I have to find ways to trick myself out of it.”

In The Diplomat, Sewell’s character is the estranged ex-husband of Kate Wyler, the US ambassador to the UK, played by Keri Russell.

Pic: Netflix
Image:
Pic: Netflix

She spends the first season navigating political minefields trying to prevent a war before it happens, after a British aircraft carrier is blown up off the coast of Iran.

The series ended on a cliffhanger that saw Hal and other political figures involved in a car explosion in London, and season two picks up following the threads of evidence left in the aftermath.

Russell credits the show’s creator, Deborah Cahn, with making the series such a thriller.

“That is the gold of our show, 100%,” she says. “She has this uncanny ability to portray political intrigue and the world of diplomacy, but also has this innate understanding of what makes people human and all the idiosyncratic weird things that make people normal.

“Even though they’re in this really seemingly powerful position, they still have bad days and are cranky, or get mad when their food is the wrong thing, or when they have to wear something they don’t like, and they still deal with all the embarrassments of daily life.”

Season two of The Diplomat out now on Netflix

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