Billy Coull: Man behind Willy Wonka-inspired event in Glasgow tells how life has been ‘ruined’

Published

2 months ago

March 18, 2024

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The organiser of the infamous Willy Wonka-inspired experience in Glasgow has told of how he has lost the “love of his life” and his life has been “ruined” because of the event.

Billy Coull said his life has been turned upside down due to the controversy surrounding the event and claimed he was made out to be the “face of all evil”.

Speaking in the Channel 5 documentary Wonka: The Scandal That Rocked Britain, Mr Coull said: “My life has been turned (upside down). My life is ruined.”

He added: “Because of everything that had happened, it ran into my personal life.

“I have lost my friends. I’ve lost the love of my life. I was made out to be the face of all evil. And genuinely, that’s really not the case.”

Willy’s Chocolate Experience gained viral notoriety after images and videos of the event were shared online.

The £35-a-ticket experience at the city’s Box Hub venue was sold as a “chocolate fantasy like never before” where “dreams become reality”.

Instead, families were met with a near-empty venue decorated with a handful of Wonka-themed props and a small bouncy castle.

Parents also told of how their children only received a couple of sweets and a quarter of a can of limeade.

Mr Coull claimed key visual equipment for the event wasn’t delivered.

He said: “I was gutted, but I believed that we could push on.”

The event was brought to a halt on its opening day as parents demanded their money back from Mr Coull’s company, House of Illuminati.

Mr Coull said it turned into “absolute chaos”, adding: “It was absolute carnage.”

Mr Coull told the documentary he received hundreds of nasty messages branding him a “villain or devil”, adding: “Saying that I’m a horrific dad, I’m better off dead, I should kill myself.”

He said he was left “devastated” over the response to the event and felt “sick to the pit” of his stomach.

Glasgow mum Maryanne McCormack, whose video of The Unknown scaring children went viral, told Sky News she still hasn’t received her £75 refund.

Ms McCormack said Mr Coull should find a different way to boost his income.

She added: “He just isn’t cut out for what he’s trying to do. (He should stop this) for his own good and his own mental health.”

Performers at the event described it as a place “where dreams went to die” and said the scripts had been AI-generated.

Mr Coull claimed he wrote the scripts, but he ran them through AI to check the spelling, grammar, and continuity due to his dyslexia.

The performers themselves have since become internet sensations.

Glasgow teenager Felicia, 16, who played The Unknown, has been booked to scare children at London Dungeon this Easter.

Announcing her upcoming guest appearance, she said: “Who would have thought my wild Wonka experience would have led me to this.”

Entertainment

Stars say Kevin Spacey should return to acting after ‘seven years of exile’

Published

9 hours ago

May 16, 2024

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Stars say Kevin Spacey should return to acting after 'seven years of exile'

Hollywood stars have begun campaigning for Kevin Spacey to resume his acting career “after seven years of exile”.

Sharon Stone, Liam Neeson and Stephen Fry are among the names speaking up for the Oscar-winner following the release of a Channel 4 documentary levelling fresh allegations against 64-year-old Spacey, which he denies.

The Oscar-winning actor was one of Hollywood’s biggest names when allegations of sexual misconduct were made in 2017, leading Netflix to cut all ties with him at the height of his House of Cards fame.

Despite being acquitted of numerous sexual offences after a trial in London, and winning a US civil lawsuit in which he was accused of making an unwanted sexual advance, Spacey said he still feels ostracised from the industry.

Basic Instinct star Stone told the Telegraph: “I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work. He is a genius. He is so elegant and fun, generous to a fault, and knows more about our craft than most of us ever will.”

The 66-year-old said it was clear aspiring actors had “wanted and want to be around him”.

She added: “It’s terrible that they are blaming him for not being able to come to terms with themselves for using him and negotiating with themselves because they didn’t get their secret agendas.”

Taken and Star Wars actor Neeson, 71, told the paper: “Kevin is a good man and a man of character. Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly.”

British actor and writer Fry said Spacey had been both “clumsy and inappropriate” on many occasions, but to “devote a whole documentary to accusations that simply do not add up to crimes… how can that be considered proportionate and justified?”

The 66-year-old said Spacey’s reputation had been “wrecked”, adding: “Surely it is wrong to continue to batter a reputation on the strength of assertion and rhetoric rather than evidence and proof?

“Unless I’m missing something, I think he has paid the price.”

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: “Spacey Unmasked is an important film exploring the balance of power and inappropriate behaviour in a work environment, aiming to give a voice to those who have previously been unable to speak out.”

Spacey won two Academy Awards as best supporting actor for The Usual Suspects in 1996 and best actor in 2000 for American Beauty, which also scored him a BAFTA for leading actor.

Last year, Spacey was found not guilty by a jury of nine sexual offences alleged by four men between 2001 and 2013 after a trial in London.

He also won a US civil lawsuit in October 2022, after being accused of an unwanted sexual advance at a party in 1986.

Spacey says he has struggled to get work despite his acquittals, branding his experience a “life sentence”.

Entertainment

Rust weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez appeals against conviction over fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin film set

Published

21 hours ago

May 15, 2024

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Rust weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez appeals against conviction over fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin film set

The weapons supervisor for the Western film Rust is appealing against her conviction for involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on set, according to court documents.

Hannah Gutierrez was jailed in April after being found guilty by jurors following a trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the US.

She was in charge of weapons during the production of the film in October 2021, when a Colt 45 revolver fired by actor and co-producer Alec Baldwin went off during a rehearsal.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died, while director Joel Souza was injured.

A defence lawyer for Gutierrez, who is serving an 18-month sentence at a prison for women in New Mexico, filed a shortly worded appeal notice on Monday.

Her legal team has 30 days to submit detailed arguments. They previously requested a new trial following the verdict.

Gutierrez’s trial was told she unwittingly brought live ammunition to the set, where it was expressly prohibited, and failed to follow basic gun safety protocols.

During her sentencing hearing, she told the court she had tried to do her best while working on the production, despite not having “proper time, resources and staffing”.

Alec Baldwin case latest

Baldwin, who was a producer for the film as well as its star, has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

He maintains he pulled back the gun’s hammer – but not the trigger – before it fired, and is set to face trial in July. He denies any wrongdoing.

The 66-year-old was originally charged in January 2023, more than a year after the shooting, but those charges were dropped a few months later. He was charged again in January this year.

His legal team has filed a motion calling for the charges to be dropped. Prosecutors responded with a 32-page document claiming that footage of the star on set shows he had “absolutely no control of his own emotions” and “no concern for how his conduct” affected those around him.

Assistant director David Halls, who also faced charges, entered a plea bargain for negligent use of a deadly weapon last year, receiving a six-month suspended sentence.

Filming of Rust resumed last year in Montana – with Baldwin reprising his role as the main character – after an agreement made Ms Hutchins’s widower an executive producer.

Entertainment

Super Gran star Gudrun Ure dies aged 98

Published

21 hours ago

May 15, 2024

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Gudrun Ure, the star of hit 1980s children’s TV show Super Gran, has died aged 98.

Ure’s portrayal of Granny Smith – who gained superpowers after being struck by a magic ray – won her legions of fans across the globe.

Her death was confirmed by her niece, Kate McNeill.

Ure was born in Milton of Campsie, East Dunbartonshire, on 12 March 1926.

As an actress she starred as Desdemona in a 1951 stage production of Othello, directed by Hollywood legend Orson Welles. She also re-dubbed Suzanne Cloutier’s performance in Welles’ film adaptation.

Ure appeared in other television shows, including Casualty, Midsomer Murders, The Crow Road, The 10th Kingdom, and T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom.

However, it was her role in Super Gran that elevated her to cult status.

The show, based on a series of books written by Forrest Wilson, saw Ure’s character use her powers to protect the residents of Chiselton from a series of villains, including the scheming Roderick ‘Scunner’ Campbell and his gang.

Many guest stars appeared on the programme, including George Best, Spike Milligan, Eric Bristow, Roy Kinnear and comedian Billy Connolly, who also sang the theme song.