Mackenzie Crook urges people to check outhouses as search for missing sister-in-law Laurel Aldridge continues
Actor Mackenzie Crook has said his family remain “determined and driven” to find his missing sister-in-law a week on from her disappearance – and has urged people in the local area to check their sheds and outhouses.
Laurel Aldridge, 62, who is the older sister of the star’s wife, was reported missing from her home in Walberton, in the Arundel area of West Sussex, on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday 14 February.
She had been undergoing chemotherapy treatment, but did not turn up for a treatment session that day.
Crook, who is known for his roles in Detectorists, The Office, Pirates Of The Caribbean and Worzel Gummidge, said in a new interview that her disappearance has been “agonising” for the family but they have a “strong suspicion” she is still in the local area.
“It’s a week now, it was this time last Tuesday that she left the house with nothing but the clothes she was wearing, no keys, money, phone, and she’s not been seen since,” he told Good Morning Britain.
The star’s televised appeal came from Slindon cricket ground in West Sussex, which he said was the location for “the last positive sighting we had of her and that was a week ago, since then, nothing”.
Crook said his family believe her disappearance could be linked to ongoing chemotherapy treatment.
“She was diagnosed with cancer last year and she missed her fifth chemo session last Tuesday and we think that’s what has triggered some sort of crisis in her and she’s gone off for a long walk somewhere,” he said. “We are really clutching at straws now after a week.”
‘We are asking people to check all of those places in their garden’
Laurel Aldridge was wearing a turquoise fleece and maroon tartan scarf when she was last seen
The actor continued: “At the moment everyone is containing their emotions, I’m sure the time will come for that later but right now everyone is very determined and driven.
“We’ve got a strong suspicion that she is in the local area but that’s just a hunch we’re going on. We can’t imagine that she has gone very far afield.”
Sussex Police previously said officers may have information which could place Mrs Aldridge’s last known location, and to reach this destination she may have crossed busy roads including the A27 and A29.
Crook said that having so many wooded areas nearby was making the search “quite overwhelming”.
He continued: “We have been combing the woodlands for a week now, we can only think she has hopefully taken shelter in a back garden, in a shed, in an outhouse, that’s what we’re hoping.
“We are asking people to check all of those places in their garden – even if they’ve done it before, to go back and check again.
“Now we are also asking people to check dashcam [footage] because there are specific roads the police think she may have crossed in that time.”
Detective Sergeant Alan Fenn has also urged residents in the Walberton and Slindon areas to “check their outbuildings for any sightings of Laurel”.
Mrs Aldridge is described as being around 5ft 4in with grey/blonde highlighted hair. She sometimes wears glasses and was last seen wearing a turquoise fleece, a maroon tartan scarf and a brown hat. She also had a grey puffer jacket with her which she is likely to have been wearing.
An emergency vote on Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest has been called off following developments in the Middle East, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has said.
Contest organisers had scheduled “an extraordinary meeting of [its] general assembly to be held online” in early November after several countries said they would no longer take part in Eurovision if Israel participated.
The EBU said in a statement that following “recent developments in the Middle East” the executive board had agreed on Monday that there should be an in-person discussion among members “on the issue of participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026”.
It said the matter had now been added to the agenda of its winter general assembly, which will take place in December.
Further details about the session would be shared with EBU members in the coming weeks, it added.
It is not clear if a vote will still take place at a later date.
Austria is hosting next year’s show in Vienna. The country’s national broadcaster, ORF, told Reuters news agency it welcomed the EBU’s decision.
Sky News has contacted Israeli broadcaster KAN for comment.
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Will Eurovision boycott Israel?
Faced with controversy over the conflict in Gaza, Eurovision – which labels itself a non-political event – had said member countries would vote on whether Israel should or shouldn’t take part.
Slovenia and broadcasters from Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Iceland had all issued statements saying if Israel was allowed to enter, they’d consider boycotting the contest.
As one of the “Big Five” backers of Eurovision, Spain’s decision to leave the competition would have a significant financial impact on the event – which is the world’s largest live singing competition.
In September, a letter from EBU president Delphine Ernotte Cunci, said “given that the union has never faced a divisive situation like this before” the board agreed it “merited a broader democratic basis for a decision”.
Read more:
Why Eurovision vote on Israel might not stop boycott
Could Eurovision boycott lead to a competition crisis?
On Monday, Palestinian militant group Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza, and Israel released busloads of Palestinian detainees, under a ceasefire deal aimed at bringing an end to the two-year war in the Middle East.
The war began when Hamas stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation, with airstrikes and ground assaults devastating much of the enclave and killing more than 67,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants but it says around half of those killed were women and children.
Entertainment
Diane Keaton, star of Annie Hall and The Godfather, has died aged 79 – US media reports
Actress Diane Keaton, who starred in films including The Godfather and Annie Hall, has died, reports have said.
People reported her death at the age of 79, citing a family spokesperson.
The magazine said she died in California with loved ones but no other details were immediately available, and representatives for Keaton did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Associated Press news agency.
Keaton’s death was also reported by the New York Times newspaper which said it has spoken to Dori Roth, who produced a number of Keaton’s most recent films, who confirmed she had died but did not provide any details about the circumstances.
With a long career, across a series of movies that are regarded as some of the best ever made, Keaton was widely admired.
She was awarded an Oscar, a BAFTA and two Golden Globe Awards, and was also nominated for two Emmys, and a Tony, as well as picking up a series of other Academy Award and BAFTA nominations.
Diane Keaton, with her best actress Oscar for ‘Annie Hall’ in 1978. Pic: AP
Her best actress Oscar was for the Woody Allen film Annie Hall, which is said to be loosely based on her life.
She appeared in several other Allen projects, including Manhattan, as well as all three Godfather movies, in which she played Kay, the wife and then ex-wife of Marlon Brando’s son Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, opposite him as he descends into a life of crime and replaces his father in the family’s mafia empire.
‘Brilliant, beautiful’
The unexpected news was met with shock around the world.
Her First Wives Club co-star Bette Midler wrote on Instagram: “The brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary Diane Keaton has died. I cannot tell you how unbearably sad this makes me.
“She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star. What you saw was who she was … oh, la, lala!”
Actor Ben Stiller paid tribute on X, writing: “Diane Keaton. One of the greatest film actors ever. An icon of style, humor and comedy. Brilliant. What a person.”
Keaton was the kind of actor who helped make films iconic and timeless, from her “La-dee-da, la-dee-da” phrasing as Annie Hall, bedecked in the iconic necktie, bowler hat, vest and khakis, to her heartbreaking turn as Kay Adams, the woman unfortunate enough to join the Corleone family.
Keaton also frequently worked with Nancy Meyers, starting with 1987’s Baby Boom.
Their other films together included 1991’s Father of the Bride and its 1995 sequel, as well as 2003’s Something’s Gotta Give.
In 1996 she starred opposite Goldie Hawn and Midler in The First Wives Club, about three women whose husbands had left them for younger women.
More recently she collaborated with Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen on the Book Club films.
Keaton never married. She adopted a daughter, Dexter, in 1996 and a son, Duke, four years later.
Sky News has contacted Keaton’s agent for a comment.
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