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Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have announced that they will be producing a reboot of the teen drama which made them famous – Byker Grove.

The presenting duo shared a video on Twitter, telling fans they had “exciting news” and that 17 years after the show came off air, they would be rebooting the nineties TV classic “for a whole new audience”.

Members of the Byker Grove cast old and new get together today 03 11 98 to celebrate the 10th series which has been launching pad for the likes of Ant and Dec - Image ID: B4WBYW (RM)
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The Byker Grove cast celebrating their 10-year anniversary in 1998

McPartlin and Donnelly – who famously played PJ and Duncan in the original series – will be executive producers and creative consultants on the reboot, which will be called simply Byker.

Like the original show, Byker will be filmed and produced in and around Newcastle and the North East, and the duo will also integrate their Prince’s Trust Making It In Media course into the production.

The presenters said they “owe a lot” to “the very special show… which gave us our breaks,” adding “as proud Geordies, we’re looking forward to help shine a spotlight on the North East and the talent the region has to offer both in front of the camera and behind it”.

They said they would be bringing a “fresh incarnation to a whole new generation”, and that the drama would follow a new group of young people and their families “as they try to navigate the challenges they face today in the 2020s”.

Ant and Dec went on to say they were “buzzing” after talking about characters and storylines, joking about what PJ and Duncan could be doing right now (PJ is performing at Wembley Stadium with his platinum selling rap album apparently).

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Teasing the possibility of a cameo, when PJ and Duncan could “pop into The Grove”, they seemed to suggest it was unlikely, adding: “I wouldn’t have thought so.”

Byker is in development with Fulwell 73 – which has previously produced shows including Friends: The Reunion, The Kardashians, Bros: After The Screaming Stops – and also with Mitre Studios who produce Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

Byker Grove , which was created by Coronation Street writer Adele Rose, and Andrea Wonfor – who commissioned shows including The Word, Eurotrash, and The Big Breakfast – first aired on ITV on 8 November, 1989.

While popular with the young people it was created for, some parents criticised the show for tackling some more serious and controversial storylines, previously avoided in children’s TV.

Several characters died in car accidents on the show, and McPartlin’s character PJ was blinded during a paintballing session gone wrong.

Byker Grove also famously showed the first gay kiss on children’s TV in 1994 – the same year as Channel 4 soap Brookside had their own same-sex kiss – attracting multiple complaints from viewers and a fair amount of negative press at the time.

A staple of British television throughout the Nineties and Noughties, it ran for 18 series, finally ending in 2006.

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As well as giving Ant and Dec their start in TV, Byker Grove also launched the careers of Donna Air, Jill Halfpenny and Andrew Hayden-Smith.

A release date has yet to be announced for Byker, which will air on the BBC.

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Kanye West’s Yeezy online shopping platform taken down over swastika T-shirts

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Kanye West's Yeezy online shopping platform taken down over swastika T-shirts

Kanye West’s Yeezy online shopping platform has been taken down after selling T-shirts featuring a swastika.

The rapper, also known as Ye, used a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday to send people to his website to buy the clothing emblazoned with the Nazi symbol – an image often used by the extreme-right.

The ecommerce platform Shopify, which hosts many online shops and businesses, has deactivated his site and his domain name yeez.com is being sold for $98,999 (£79,692).

Shopify said in an emailed statement to Sky News’ sister channel NBC News: “All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify.”

West’s representative is yet to respond to a request from NBC for comment.

The white T-shirts featured a black swastika on the front and were the only items for sale on the front page of yeezy.com.

No text or explanation accompanied the item, just the letters “HH-01.” They were available for $20 (£16).

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Initially, West’s site showed a notice from Shopify which said the store was “unavailable”.

screengrab of yeez.com, Kayne's website which host shopify has taken down after it featured T-shifts featuring a swastika
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yeez.com was taken offline by Shopify, the e-commerce platform which was hosting his shop

But the site now redirects to the registrar GoDaddy, the platform which manages yeez.com, where a page shows the domain name is for sale.

GoDaddy has not yet responded to questions about the sale and whether it was enforced by the company or initiated by West.

Screenshot showing yeez.com domain is for sale on godaddy
https://www.godaddy.com/forsale/yeez.com
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The domain name yeez.com can be bought for $98,999 (£79,692)

The decision to sell the T-shirt triggered widespread criticism, including from the Anti-Defamation League (ADF) which posted a statement on X on Monday, describing the shirt sales as further proof of West’s antisemitism.

The organisation, formed to combat anti-Jewish bigotry and discrimination, explained that the swastika was adopted by Hitler and “continues to threaten and instil fear in those targeted by antisemitism and white supremacy”.

The ADF also said the T-shirt was labelled on Kanye’s website as ‘HH-01’ – suggesting this was code for “Heil Hitler”.

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West has in recent days been posting antisemitic messages on X, as well as writing “I love Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi”. His account then had a “sensitive content warning” added to it before he posted a final message.

“I’m logging out of Twitter,” he wrote. “I appreciate [X owner] Elon [Musk] for allowing me to vent.”

After his account was deactivated on Monday, his spokesperson Milo Yiannopoulos issued an explanation.

“Ye is an intergenerational artist and icon who continues to redefine the limits of creativity and free expression. He has deactivated his X account for the time being,” he said in a statement.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism was joined by Friends star David Schwimmer in calling for Elon Musk to remove West from X over a string of offensive posts.

One of the most successful figures in hop-hip, West built up a fashion brand called Yeezy which began as a collaboration with Adidas. But the German sportswear giant cut ties with him in 2022 over his antisemitic remarks and eventually reached a settlement in October.

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Lisa Riley reacts to Peter Kay’s ‘upsetting’ gig jibe

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Lisa Riley reacts to Peter Kay's 'upsetting' gig jibe

Lisa Riley has reacted to reports that Peter Kay likened a heckler to her, insisting she’s “not offended”.

The Bolton comedian was performing his Manchester gig on Saturday night when a woman was removed by security guards after shouting “We love you Peter”. Kay is said to have likened her to Riley as she was being taken out.

The audience member has said she is “annoyed and upset” about the comments.

“To go to a show and feel like you’re having the mick taken out of you because of your weight, I was just a bit shocked,” she told the Manchester Evening News.

“The whole arena was laughing, I think they thought it was part of the show but there was a nastiness to his voice. It was like he was trying to get the crowd against me – it just wasn’t nice, to be honest.”

Riley, 48, is best known for playing Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale and also fronted You’ve Been Framed in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Appearing to respond to her impromptu mention during the show, Riley posted a picture on Instagram on Monday which read: “Keep calm and laugh”. She added the message: “It’s a laugh, it’s funny!!!”

She then followed it up on Tuesday with a post on Instagram which said: “Please draw a line under this now. I am not offended, never was offended. I love Peter Kay to pieces. Laughter is my favourite medicine”.

Kay was also understood to have thrown two men out of the same gig after one repeatedly shouted “garlic bread,” which is one of Kay’s catchphrases.

Kay told ITV’s Good Morning Britain he had taken action against hecklers as they were ruining the show for others, and it was “no longer fair” to the other audience members.

In response to his likening of one audience member to Riley, he said in a statement to the show: “I didn’t realise it was an insult. She did look remarkably like Lisa Riley, I didn’t realise that was an insult”.

One audience member told the Manchester Evening News that Kay had “shouted” at the hecklers for “a good three to five minutes” during the show.

They said the audience was mixed in their reaction: “Some couldn’t believe it and were obviously annoyed and others were laughing, either thinking it was part of the show or going along with it.”

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Kay, 51, who has been performing his record-breaking Better Late Than Never Again tour since 2022, recently performed his 100th show at the AO Arena – the same venue the three hecklers were expelled from.

Tickets to watch the show start at £35, but go up to about £350 for top-notch seats.

Sky News has contacted representatives for Kay for comment.

Kay is currently scheduled to perform his tour into spring 2026.

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Pilot killed as Motley Crue frontman’s jet crashes at Arizona airport

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Pilot killed as Motley Crue frontman's jet crashes at Arizona airport

A pilot has died after a private jet owned by Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil crashed into another plane at an airport in Arizona.

Neil was not on board at the time of the collision, which happened off the runway at Scottsdale Airport on Monday afternoon.

Neil’s girlfriend Rain Andreani and her friend suffered injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening.

They were taken to hospital with the jet’s co-pilot, who was also injured.

Emergency responders work on Vince Neil's plane after the collision. Pic: AP
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Emergency responders work on Vince Neil’s plane after the collision. Pic: AP

“While details are still emerging, our hearts go out to the families of both the pilot who lost his life and the passengers who suffered injuries,” Motley Crue said in a statement.

“Motley Crue will announce a way to help support the family of the deceased pilot – stand by for an announcement very soon”.

Rain Andreani broke five ribs in the crash and the dogs the women were travelling with survived, TMZ reports.

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Firefighters work around the site of a crashed Learjet at Scottsdale Airport after it collided with a parked plane Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
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Pic: AP

Neil’s jet was arriving from Austin, Texas, when one of its two sets of landing gears failed.

The Learjet veered off the runway after landing and crashed into a Gulfstream 200 business jet.

Neil’s lawyer said the singer is “grateful for the critical aid of all first responders assisting today”.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the incident was under investigation.

Motley Crue enjoyed major success throughout the 1980s, selling more than 100 million records.

Vince Neil fronted the rock band from their formation in 1981 until he left in 1992.

He later reunited with the band in 1996 and fronted them until they retired in 2015, and again from the band’s 2018 reunion onwards.

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