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The final series of royal drama The Crown leads this year’s BAFTA TV Awards nominations, picking up eight nods including four in the acting categories – but misses out on the best drama shortlist.

Happy Valley, The Gold, Slow Horses and Top Boy are the four shows up for the prize, which will be one of the biggest of the night.

Black Mirror’s Demon 79 episode follows closely behind The Crown with seven BAFTA TV nominations, while The Sixth Commandment, The Last Of Us, The Long Shadow and Succession also feature several times on the shortlist.

Black Mirror Demon 79. Pic: Netflix
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Black Mirror Demon 79. Pic: Netflix

In the news coverage category, Sky News takes two of the three slots, for its coverage on Myanmar and the Israel-Hamas war. Channel 4 is also nominated for its coverage of the war.

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Inside Myanmar’s secret jungle hospital

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Inside Sky’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay’s month-long undercover mission embedded at the epicentre of Myanmar’s secretive resistance movement. WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES

After six seasons chronicling the Royal Family, the final season of The Crown covered the period from the late 1990s to 2005 – including the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana, William meeting Kate, and Charles and Camilla’s wedding.

Dominic West, who played the then Prince Charles, is up for best actor, while Elizabeth Debicki (Princess Diana), Lesley Manville (Princess Margaret) and Salim Daw (Mohamed Al Fayed) are shortlisted in the supporting categories. The series is also up for awards for costume design, make-up and hair, sound, and visual effects.

The return of Charlie Brooker’s dystopian anthology series Black Mirror receives all its BAFTA TV nominations for one episode, titled Demon 79, about a girl who accidentally releases a demon who tells her she must commit three murders to prevent the end of the world.

Star Anjana Vasan is in the running for leading actress alongside Bella Ramsey for The Last Of Us, Anne Reid for The Sixth Commandment, Helena Bonham Carter for Nolly, Sarah Lancashire for Happy Valley, and Sharon Horgan for Best Interests.

Pic: BBC
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Sarah Lancashire is up for best actress for her performance in Happy Valley. Pic: BBC

Undated Handout Photo from Succession Season 4 Pictured: (Front) Jeremy Strong as Kendall and Brian Cox as Logan Roy
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Brian Cox (right) is up for best actor for his portrayal of Logan Roy in Succession. Pic: Sky UK/HBO

In the leading actor category, West faces competition from Succession’s Brian Cox, Top Boy’s Kane “Kano” Robinson, Paapa Essiedu for The Lazarus Project, Steve Coogan for The Reckoning, and Timothy Spall for The Sixth Commandment.

In the comedy categories, Big Boys, Dreaming Whilst Black, Extraordinary and Such Brave Girls are up for best-scripted show, while Bridget Christie (The Change), Gbemisola Ikumelo (Black Ops), Mairead Tyers and Sofia Oxenham (Extraordinary), Roisin Gallagher (The Lovers), and Taj Atwal (Hullraisers) are shortlisted for best female performance.

Adjani Salmon (Dreaming Whilst Black), David Tennant (Good Omens), Hammed Animashaun (Black Ops), Jamie Demetriou (A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou), Joseph Gilgun (Brassic), and Mawaan Rizwan (Juice) are shortlisted for best male comedy performance.

The Bear, Beef, Class Act, The Last Of Us, Love & Death, and Succession make up the shortlist in the international category, while The Long Shadow, Demon 79, Best Interests and The Sixth Commandment are the four shows up for best limited series.

The main nominations announcement comes after the reveal of the memorable moments shortlist, which was announced earlier this month.

A total of 118 programmes have been nominated, and for 17 out of 44 nominees in the performance categories it is their first BAFTA nod.

BAFTA chair Sara Putt said the “exceptional” variety and quality of programmes nominated reflects the “creative powerhouse” that is the UK television industry.

She also referenced the directing categories for factual and fiction shows, which feature predominantly male nominees.

“I’m delighted to see so many first-time nominees, so much new and emerging talent and so many debut projects recognised,” she said.

“At a time when budgets are tight and creative risk-taking can feel ever riskier, we hope our awards can play a positive role in reinforcing the value of nurturing new talent and ideas, as well as holding a mirror up to stubborn industry inequities, particularly for talented female directors who are still significantly outnumbered by their male counterparts when it comes to awards submissions.”

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Budget: Hostile market response as chancellor suffers Halloween nightmare

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Budget: Hostile market response as chancellor suffers Halloween nightmare

First things first: don’t panic.

What you need to know is this. The budget has not gone down well in financial markets. Indeed, it’s gone down about as badly as any budget in recent years, save for Liz Truss’s mini-budget.

The pound is weaker. Government bond yields (essentially, the interest rate the exchequer pays on its debt) have gone up.

That’s precisely the opposite market reaction to the one chancellors like to see after they commend their fiscal statements to the house.

In hindsight, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.

After all, the new government just committed itself to considerably more borrowing than its predecessors – about £140bn more borrowing in the coming years. And that money has to be borrowed from someone – namely, financial markets.

But those financial markets are now reassessing how keen they are to lend to the UK.

More on Budget 2024

The upshot is that the pound has fallen quite sharply (the biggest two-day fall in trade-weighted sterling in 18 months) and gilt yields – the interest rate paid by the government – have risen quite sharply.

This was all beginning to crystallise shortly after the budget speech, with yields beginning to rise and the pound beginning to weaken, the moment investors and economists got their hands on the budget documentation.

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Chancellor challenged over gilt yield spike

But the falls in the pound and the rises in the bond yields accelerated today.

This is not, to be absolutely clear, the kind of response any chancellor wants to see after a budget – let alone their first budget in office.

Indeed, I can’t remember another budget which saw as hostile a market response as this one in many years – save for one.

That exception is, of course, the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng mini-budget of 2022. And here is where you’ll find the silver lining for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.

The rises in gilt yields and falls in sterling in recent hours and days are still far shy of what took place in the run up and aftermath of the mini-budget. This does not yet feel like a crisis moment for UK markets.

But nor is it anything like good news for the government. In fact, it’s pretty awful. Because higher borrowing rates for UK debt mean it (well, us) will end up paying considerably more to service our debt in the coming years.

Rachel Reeves and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones prepare to leave 11 Downing Street
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Rachel Reeves leaving 11 Downing Street before the budget. Pic: PA

And that debt is about to balloon dramatically because of the plans laid down by the chancellor this week.

And this is where things get particularly sticky for Ms Reeves.

In that budget documentation, the Office for Budget Responsibility said the chancellor could afford to see those gilt yields rise by about 1.3 percentage points, but then when they exceeded this level, the so-called “headroom” she had against her fiscal rules would evaporate.

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In other words, she’d break those rules – which, recall, are considerably less strict than the ones she inherited from Jeremy Hunt.

Which raises the question: where are those gilt yields right now? How close are they to the danger zone where the chancellor ends up breaking her rules?

Short answer: worryingly close. Because, right now, the yield on five-year government debt (which is the maturity the OBR focuses on most) is more than halfway towards that danger zone – only 56 basis points away from hitting the point where debt interest costs eat up any leeway the chancellor has to avoid breaking her rules.

Now, we are not in crisis territory yet. Nor can every move in currencies and bonds be attributed to this budget.

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Markets are volatile right now. There’s lots going on: a US election next week and a Bank of England decision on interest rates next week.

The chancellor could get lucky. Gilt yields could settle in the coming days. But, right now, the UK, with its high level of public and private debt, with its new government which has just pledged to borrow many billions more in the coming years, is being closely scrutinised by the “bond vigilantes”.

A Halloween nightmare for any chancellor.

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Sara Sharif: 10-year-old’s stepmother said girl’s father beat her up ‘like crazy’, according to WhatsApp messages read in court

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Sara Sharif: 10-year-old's stepmother said girl's father beat her up 'like crazy', according to WhatsApp messages read in court

Sara Sharif’s stepmother sent her sister some pictures of the 10-year-old looking bruised and miserable – and told her to “delete” them, a court has heard.

“Look what he’s doing,” Beinash Batool told Qandeela Saboohi, referring to the beatings Sara was allegedly getting from her father, Urfan Sharif.

“Delete the pictures.”

A series of WhatsApp messages exchanged between 2020 and 2023, in which Batool told her sister about the physical attacks Sharif was allegedly inflicting on his daughter, were read out to a jury at the Old Bailey.

Sara Sharif
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Sara Sharif

Batool repeatedly told her sister that Sharif was hitting Sara for being “naughty”, “rude and rebellious”, and because she had cut up his clothes, hidden keys and torn up documents.

Batool, 30, Urfan Sharif, 42, and Sara’s uncle, 29-year-old Faisal Malik, are accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse culminating in Sara’s murder on 8 August last year.

As early as February 2020, Batool described Sharif as going on a “rampage” after spilling hot tea, saying he was “possessed”.

Writing about 10 photographs of Sara, she wrote: “This is how bad he is beating her… I feel really sorry for her. He beat the crap out of her.”

On another occasion, Batool said Sharif “went ballistic” and “beat Sara up like crazy”. She expressed fears he could break an arm or leg.

In May 2021, Batool told Ms Saboohi: “Not great in our house, it’s all a bit manic. Urfan beat the crap out of Sara and my mind is all in bits. I really want to report him.

“Why the hell doesn’t Urfan learn – she’s covered in bruises, literally beaten black.”

Afterwards, Sharif sat “on his fat bum” and played the board game Ludo, she said.

She went on: “Why the hell I’m even letting him in the house. I’m sorry for Sara, poor girl cannot walk. She literally fainted in the kitchen in the morning. He made her do sit-ups all night.”

Asked what Sara had done, Batool said: “Because she hid the keys.”

By 2022, Batool said she was planning to get some “legal advice” but was advised by her sister to give it time and not to rush.

Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik. Pics: Surrey Police
Image:
Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik. Pics: Surrey Police

In an update later that year, Batool said she was thinking about taking Sara out of school, saying: “I don’t want to but kinda don’t have a choice.

“I’m just fed up of her behaviour and Urfan’s. Sara’s body is literally bruised because Urfan beat her up. I cannot even cover it up.

“He beat Sara up yesterday and I can’t send her to school on Monday looking like that.

“She ripped Urfan’s documents in front of him and was being rude and rebellious.”

Referring to an image of Sara in a hijab, Batool wrote: “You haven’t even seen her body, it’s a whole lot worse.”

Days later, she said Sara’s school was worried about her and Sharif was “stressed” about it.

In an apparent reference to Sara’s injuries, she wrote: “Urfan told me to cover it up with makeup and she’s going to wear sunglasses.”

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Two months before Sara died, Batool referred to “Sara’s antics”, telling her sister: “Urfan beat the crap out of Sara… Yeah, he beat her up like crazy.

“Her oxygen level dropped really low, she’s finding it hard to stay awake.”

Asked if Sharif had hit her on the head, Batool said: “Nah, but she’s breathing really rapidly.”

The day before Sara died, Ms Saboohi tried to make contact but Batool told her she was “not in the mood to speak”.

Two days later, the defendants were captured on CCTV as they prepared to board a flight to Pakistan from Heathrow Airport.

That CCTV has now been shown to the jury.

On 10 August last year, police found Sara’s body in a bunkbed after Sharif called from Pakistan to say he had beaten her up “too much” for “being naughty”.

William Emlyn Jones KC, the prosecutor, has previously told jurors it was disputed whether messages Batool sent to two of her sisters were accurate or gave a full picture.

All three defendants, formerly of Hammond Road in Woking in Berkshire, have denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.

The trial continues.

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Man arrested after £300k worth of cheese stolen

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Man arrested after £300k worth of cheese stolen

Police investigating the theft of 22 tonnes of cheese have arrested a 63-year-old man on suspicion of fraud and handling stolen goods.

It follows the theft at Neal’s Yard Dairy in Southwark, south London, last week.

Company bosses said the firm had lost clothbound Cheddar worth more than £300,000 after it was conned by a fraudulent buyer posing as a legitimate wholesale distributor for a major French retailer.

Neal’s Yard Dairy added it only discovered the person’s identity was fake after a total of 950 cheeses were delivered.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said on Thursday that investigating officers arrested a man on suspicion of fraud by false representation and handling stolen goods.

It said the 63-year-old was then “taken to a south London police station where he was questioned”.

The force added the man “has since been bailed pending further inquiries”.

Neal’s Yard Dairy said the three types of artisan cheeses stolen were Hafod Welsh Organic Cheddar, Westcombe Cheddar, and Pitchfork Cheddar.

It added the cheeses “have won numerous awards and are amongst the most sought-after artisan cheeses in the UK”, and suggested their “high monetary value” made them “a particular target for the thieves”.

Despite what it described as a “significant financial blow”, Neal’s Yard Dairy said it had honoured its commitment to its small-scale suppliers and had already paid the three artisan cheesemakers in full.

Two days after the theft became public, the firm thanked supporters for their messages and visits to its stores, and said: “We are truly touched that so many people in the artisan cheese community and beyond are standing with us.”

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Meanwhile, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver urged followers to be on alert for “lorryloads of very posh cheese” being sold “for cheap”.

He noted on Instagram that the amount of Cheddar stolen equaled the entire annual production of Hafod cheese, “potentially creating a significant gap in the artisanal cheese market”.

Westcombe Dairy’s Tom Calver also shared a video showing the inside of the dairy, pointing to the empty shelves behind him to show how much cheese had been stolen.

“I feel a bit strange about it, actually,” Mr Calver said on Instagram. “Out of all the stuff to steal. Cheddar.

“It almost feels like an honour that it has got such value.”

He said Westcombe Cheddar was aged for 12 to 18 months, and that the stolen cheese was produced 15 months ago.

“What worries me is the trust element in things,” he said. “At the end of the day, what we need to have is more trust in the food supply system, rather than less of it.

“I hope more people will want to know where their food comes from.”

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