A statement from the programme said: “A security breach was identified and an intruder was removed from the location with immediate effect.
“The safety of both our celebrities and our production crew remains our primary concern.”
This just in – From Arwen to Ant wind 😳💨 it’s all go here as we record the show instead of being live on your tellies tonight – an #ImACeleb first! Stay safe in the storm everyone x pic.twitter.com/M3rqmj70XQ
Presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly – known as Ant and Dec – had been set to broadcast live from Gwrych Castle in North Wales before severe storm warnings forced ITV to pre-record an episode of the show for the first time.
The pair posted a video from outside the castle ahead of the programme, in which the roar of the wind in the background was palpable.
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“You’ve probably heard we’ve had to record the show a bit earlier tonight because of the winds here at Storm Arwen,” said Mr Donnelly.
“It’s bad, isn’t it, it’s really windy,” said Mr McPartlin. “You can hear it, it’s rattling the tent, it might blow this away, so we’ve got to get it done and get out of here.”
“It’s due to get worse later so everyone is afraid that the satellite is going to go down and all of that, so it’s a bit risky to do a live show, so we’re going to have to do it recorded tonight, which is the first time we’ve ever done that,” Mr Donnelly added.
He said: “It’s very, very windy but even worse than that it was lentils for lunch, so Ant is a bit windy as well.”
This year’s I’m a Celeb series has already been disrupted after TV presenter Richard Madeley was forced to withdraw after breaking the show’s COVID bubble.
The 65-year-old was taken to hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning after falling ill and had to pull out because of the visit.
The journalist and broadcaster later said he was “gutted” that he could not return to the set and felt “fit as a fiddle”.
Normally held in Australia, the show was moved to Wales last year due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
David Graham, whose voice featured in some of the UK’s favourite TV shows, including Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig, has died.
The London-born star was 99.
Jamie Anderson, the son of Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson, led the tributes on X as he called Graham a “legendary” actor.
Graham brought to life the Thunderbirds puppet characters Gordon Tracy, scientist Brains, and Lady Penelope’s driver, Aloysius “Nosey” Parker, in the series about the secret International Rescue organisation.
“We will miss you dearly, David. Our thoughts are with David’s friends and family,” Anderson’s post on X confirming the death on Friday said.
Anderson went on to pay tribute to Graham, who also voiced the evil Daleks in Doctor Who, saying: “David was always a wonderful friend to us here at Anderson Entertainment.”
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Anderson also told the PA news agency: “Just a few weeks ago, I was with 2,000 Anderson fans at a Gerry Anderson concert in Birmingham where we sang him happy birthday – such a joyous occasion.
“And now, just a few weeks later, he’s left us. David was always kind and generous with his time and his talent. And what a talent.”
Highlighting all the characters played by Graham, Anderson added: “He will be sorely missed.”
Graham returned as Parker for ITV’s remake Thunderbirds Are Go, which ran between 2015 and 2020, but not for the live-action 2004 film which saw Ron Cook take on the role.
The original 1965 Thunderbirds was created by Gerry Anderson, who died in 2012, and his second wife, Sylvia, the voice of Lady Penelope, who died in 2016.
Graham also played Grandpa Pig in children’s show Peppa Pig, and provided the voice for characters in Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom.
His in-person acting roles included Doctor Who, Coronation Street and Casualty.
“Trailblazing” actress Cleo Sylvestre who starred in films, soap operas and stage plays has died aged 79, her agent has said.
Sylvestre, also known as Cleopatra Palmer, appeared in productions as diverse as Crossroads, Shakespeare’s As You Like It and the first Paddington movie.
A spokesperson for Fulcrum Talent said: “It is with deep regret that I have to announce the sad news that Cleo Sylvestre MBE died this morning.
“Much loved and admired by her peers, she will be remembered as a trailblazer and a true friend. She will be sorely missed by so many.”
Sylvestre was also a singer and recorded with The Rolling Stones, who backed her on a 1964 cover of To Know Him Is To Love Him. She later worked as a musician with her blues band Honey B Mama And Friends.
Born in Hertfordshire in April 1945, she was brought up in London by her mother Laureen Sylvestre and studied at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.
She was made an MBE in 2023 for services to drama and charity and was married to Ian Palmer until his death in 1995.
Sylvestre enjoyed roles in some of TV’s best-known shows, including playing Melanie Harper, the adopted daughter of Meg Richardson in ITV’s long-running Crossroads, during the 1970s.
Other TV roles came in The Bill, New Tricks, Till Death Do Us Part, Grange Hill, Doctor Who and Coronation Street.
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Her more recent parts included ITV thriller Platform 7, and Channel 5’s revamp of All Creatures Great And Small.
Sylvestre began her acting career on the stage and was the first black actress to take a leading role in a National Theatre production – in National Health in 1969.
She made her Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) debut playing Audrey in a 2023 production of As You Like It.
Her film roles have ranged from the 2014 film Paddington, Kidulthood from 2006 and 1993’s The Punk.
US-born playwright and author Bonnie Greer wrote on X that Sylvestre was “one of the reasons that-from my vantage point in NYC (New York City) that I thought that this country has the best anglophone theatre, and the best place to be a Black woman in it”.
She added: “I still think that. Thank you, Cleo!”
Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, the UK’s first sickle cell nurse specialist, wrote that she was “devastated” at the death of her “wonderful, kind friend”.
A painting of a nude woman with her legs open has prompted a police visit to an art gallery in Mid Wales.
The painting is on display in the window of The Table in Hay-on-Wye, Powys.
Warning: The image below shows the painting
According to gallery owner Val Harris, the police have asked her to remove the painting under the Public Order Act, but she has refused to do so.
Ms Harris told Sky News the response the painting had received from some people was “shocking” and “rather sad”.
“We had the police here under the Public Order Act. They’d had complaints,” she said.
“I’m not prepared to take it out of the window. I run an art gallery, I support my artists, so that’s where we got to.
“And Poppy [Baynham, the artist] wants to keep it in the window, if she wanted to move it ’cause she was finding it too traumatic, I would have respected whatever she wanted.”
The painting formed part of the gallery’s It’s Party Time exhibition.
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Some of the complaints were read out in a public meeting on Thursday afternoon, called so people could ask questions about the artwork.
One complaint was that the painting was “not suitable for children”, while another described it as “very sexualised”.
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Baynham told Sky News it was “only supportive people” who attended the meeting after the complaints had been made.
“I think everyone who didn’t like the painting was just a bit scared to show their faces obviously. So it turned out really, really great, a lot of people showed up,” she said.
“I couldn’t do it without the support, I think I would have given in if it was all hate.”
The discussion that has been sparked by Ms Baynham’s painting is “all an artist dreams of”, she added.
“The publicity has been amazing for my work, I’ve never had so much people talk about it.”