BBC presenter Jay Blades has denied engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour towards his wife.

The 54-year-old, who fronts primetime show The Repair Shop, entered a not guilty plea at Worcester Crown Court on Friday.

Wearing a dark suit and tie, Blades, of Claverley in Shropshire, spoke only to confirm his identity to the court clerk and to enter his plea.

The charge alleges the controlling and coercive behaviour took place between 1 January 2023 and 12 September this year.

It alleges his behaviour had a “serious effect” on his partner Lisa-Marie Zbozen, “namely that it caused her to fear on at least two occasions that violence would be used against her”.

Ms Zbozen announced in an Instagram post on 2 May that the pair’s relationship was over.

Blades appeared before the Recorder of Worcester, Judge James Burbidge KC, who rejected an application for part of the proceedings to be heard in private.

A “short-form” copy of the indictment was read to Blades before he entered his plea.

A more detailed version of the charge he faces was not read out during the 12-minute hearing.

The judge told Blades: “You are aware of the allegations against you because you have a particularised indictment.

“The jury will hear it and the public will then hear the allegations during the prosecution opening, with all those particulars then read out.”

The judge removed a bail condition that Blades should be subject to an electronic tag, which had not yet been fitted due to “failings” by the company responsible.

He told the presenter: “You have denied responsibility for the crime alleged against you, and the prosecution proposes to try you.

“I remove the tagging of your exclusion zone, but you are still subject to the exclusion zone.”

The judge adjourned the case, with a possible trial date of 6 May next year.

Blades left the court without comment.

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The Repair Shop first aired in 2017 and its 14th series is due later this year.

Blades – a furniture restorer – is the face of the popular BBC show, which features people having treasured objects repaired and rejuvenated.

Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will go on trial facing sex trafficking and racketeering charges in May next year.

The 54-year-old rapper, also known as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, blew kisses to his mother and children in court after a US judge set the trial date at a Manhattan federal court hearing on Thursday.

Combs pleaded not guilty on 17 September to a three-count indictment charging him with using his business empire, including record label Bad Boy Entertainment, to transport male and female sex workers across state lines to take part in recorded sexual performances called “freak offs”.

He faces a sentence of up to life in prison and a minimum of 15 years if convicted of the three counts he faces: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

In his third court appearance since his arrest in September, Combs was told his trial will start on 5 May.

Prosecutor Emily Johnson told the court the prosecution’s case at the trial will last at least three weeks.

Combs’ defence will last around a week, his lawyer Marc Agnifilo said.

The hip-hip mogul has been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest.

He appeared in court on Thursday in tan prison uniform before being led out a side door by members of the US Marshals Service.

The Manhattan-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied his request to be immediately released from jail while he appeals another judge’s decision to deny him bail.

A three-judge 2nd Circuit panel will hear that appeal at a later date.

In relation to the charges he faces, prosecutors have accused Combs of enticing women by giving them drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy, financial support or promises of career support or a romantic relationship.

Combs then allegedly used the surreptitious recordings of the sex acts as “collateral” to ensure that the women would remain silent, and sometimes displayed weapons to intimidate abuse victims and witnesses, prosecutors said.

The indictment contains no allegation that Combs himself directly engaged in unwanted sexual contact with women, though he was accused of physically assaulting them.

Mr Agnifilo has called the sexual activity described by prosecutors consensual.

In a court filing on Wednesday night, Mr Agnifilo asked the judge to impose a “gag order” prohibiting prosecutors and federal agents from disclosing evidence to the media.

Mr Agnifilo cited what he called unlawful leaks that included a video showing Combs striking and dragging a woman in 2016.

At the hearing, Ms Johnson called the request an attempt to “exclude a damning piece of evidence”.

She said prosecutors would have no problem affirming their obligations not to disclose confidential evidence to the press, but said the defence should be bound by that as well.

Ms Johnson also raised concerns about Mr Agnifilo’s statement in a September interview with entertainment news outlet TMZ calling the case a “takedown of a successful black man”.

She said the comment amounted to an accusation that the government was “engaging in a racist prosecution”.

“Statements of this sort seriously risk a fair trial in this case,” Ms Johnson said.

It’s almost 12 years to the day that a Taliban gunman shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in the head as she travelled home from an exam on a school bus packed with fellow pupils.

Now one of Pakistan’s best-known public figures, the activist, Oxford graduate and youngest Nobel laureate in history is releasing her first feature.

The 27-year-old tells Sky News: “I’m pretty new to Hollywood, but it’s been an incredible journey for me so far.”

An outspoken critic of Muslim under-representation in Hollywood films, Yousafzai founded her production company Extracurricular in 2021 in partnership with Apple TV + in a bid to “shake things up”.

She says: “There are so many passionate women and artists from different diverse backgrounds, including Muslim communities and people of colour and they have incredible stories.

“I hope to work with more incredible artists and directors out there in the many years ahead to help us bring more perspectives and more voices and reflections from people who don’t often get a chance.”

A 2022 study showed that Muslims are 25% of the population, but only 1% of characters in popular TV series.

As for whether it’s getting better, Yousafzai says: “There are incredible Muslim artists who are really changing the narrative, and I do hope that more of them will get a chance to tell their story and just bring more diversity to how stories are told.”

She says the documentary she’s just released – The Last Of The Sea Women, about a group of female divers in their 60s, 70s and 80s – is “an amazing beginning” to her new adventure as a Hollywood executive.

Extracurricular has previously said it would consider producing a fictionalised account of her attempted assassination but signalled they first need to find a “surprising way in” to the story.

And Yousafzai is full of surprises.

Malala Made Me Do It

Earlier this year, she made her acting debut in the second season of Channel 4’s reverential and hugely popular comedy We Are Lady Parts.

Her episode even featured a spoof song inspired by her activism – Malala Made Me Do It.

Yousafzai’s passionate advocacy for access to education for women and girls in countries where it is restricted is now stepping into a new realm – entertainment.

Her deal with Apple will cover dramas, comedies, documentaries, animation and children’s series.

Future productions include a movie adaptation of Elaine Hsieh Chou’s book Disorientation, and a scripted series based on Asha Lemmie’s coming-of-age novel Fifty Words For Rain, about a woman’s search for acceptance in post-World War Two Japan.

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The Last Of The Sea Women tells the story of the Haenyeo, a “badass girl gang” of grandmothers living on South Korea‘s Jeju Island who dive to the ocean floor without oxygen to gather food for their community.

Earning a reputation as real-life mermaids, despite diving for centuries, their traditions are now under threat.

In a bid to save their way of life, they are now teaching younger women, who being from Generation Z, are sharing their stories on TikTok.

Elderly Asian women ‘as heroes’

The film’s director Sue Kim – who calls working with Malala “the joy and pleasure of my life” – says she was excited to showcase an underrepresented group in her work.

“It’s rare to see women portrayed as the sole heroes in the film. Two Asian women are not often portrayed as the soul heroes in the film. And then elderly Asian women.

“It’s three demographics where I do think there’s a bit of a gap of representation and portrayal in the heroic world. And that was something I was excited to show in the film.”

Yousafzai says of the Haenyeo: “When I look to them, I personally, as a woman, feel that there’s no limit to what I can do.”

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She goes on: “We would be in a very good place if we were under the leadership of the Haenyeo, for sure…

“We need women in leadership. We need a society where women can get equal opportunities. And a woman should never be told that she cannot be in a certain role.”

Previously nominated for an Oscar for the documentary short Stranger At The Gate, Yousafzai is optimistic The Last Of The Sea Women could be part of the next awards conversation too.

“Why not? I think it deserves all the applause and the credit.”

The Last Of The Sea Women is streaming now on Apple TV +