Connect with us

Published

on

No one under the age of 25 knows Match of the Day without Gary Lineker.

A TV era is ending with the Saturday night hot seat being vacated when the Premier League season ends in May, Sky News has been told.

The arrival of a new director of BBC Sport made this decision increasingly inevitable as Alex Kay-Jelski is said to be shaking up how sport is covered on air and online.

Gary Lineker next to the FA Cup trophy during the Emirates FA Cup fourth round match at Rodney Parade, Newport. Picture date: Sunday January 28, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story SOCCER Newport. Photo credit should read: Nick Potts/PA Wire...RESTRICTIONS: EDITORIAL USE ONLY No use with unauthorised audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications.
Image:
Gary Lineker next to the FA Cup trophy in January of this year. Pic: PA

Few could have anticipated Lineker – the England scoring sensation – reinventing himself as a broadcasting institution, and becoming the heir to Des Lynam from 1999.

Few certainly could have anticipated his longevity on BBC One and the longevity of the football highlights format – with clips of games available online long before MOTD’s post-10pm kick-off.

There is no doubting how accomplished Lineker has become in the challenging live TV environment.

But off-air conduct became a growing source of friction between the BBC hierarchy and its highest earner.

More on Bbc

Choosing to use his social media platform to dish out political views demonstrated a social conscience.

But those posts – critical of the Conservatives and pro-Palestinian – sent out to millions of followers seemed to conflict with social media policies at an organisation that sees itself as a bastion of political neutrality.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Gary Lineker to leave BBC’s MOTD

Ultimately they sparked one of the biggest political furores in BBC history when a comparison of the Tory government’s asylum policy with 1930s Germany led to him being taken off air last year.

And BBC colleagues walked out in solidarity.

BBC Sport presenter Gary Lineker (right) and pundit Alan Shearer, returning to TV screens following a row over impartiality, is seen before the Emirates FA Cup quarter-final match at Etihad Stadium, Manchester. Picture date: Saturday March 18, 2023.
Image:
Presenter Gary Lineker and pundit Alan Shearer, returning to TV screens following Lineker’s row with the BBC over impartiality last year. Pic: PA

He didn’t want to back down and scored a victory, allowing him to express views on issues as long as it did not cross into campaigning.

But his views on football also caused concern with criticism of the England team going beyond anything he would say on the BBC.

The expletive used about Three Lions performances at Euro 2024 came on his own The Rest Is Football podcast, generating weeks of coverage promoting the sideline.

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

But the sideline has developed into a huge commercial success with podcasts from Goalhanger dominating the listening chart from politics to history and entertainment, beyond his own football shows.

The BBC could continue to buy in Goalhanger podcasts after Lineker presents his last World Cup for them in 2026.

And soon a new generation might only know Lineker, not as the striker or BBC presenter, but as the podcasting millionaire.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Joy star James Norton on the ‘postcode lottery’ of IVF – and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first ‘test-tube baby’

Published

on

By

Joy star James Norton on the 'postcode lottery' of IVF - and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first 'test-tube baby'

Actor James Norton, who stars in a new film telling the story of the world’s first “test-tube baby”, has criticised how “prohibitively expensive” IVF can be in the UK.

In Joy, the star portrays the real-life scientist Bob Edwards, who – along with obstetrician Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy – spent a decade tirelessly working on medical ways to help infertility.

The film charts the 10 years leading up to the birth of Louise Joy Brown, who was dubbed the world’s first test-tube baby, in 1978.

James Norton stars in Joy. Pic: Kerry Brown/ Netflix
Image:
In the UK, statistics show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade

Norton, who is best known for playing Tommy Lee Royce in the BAFTA-winning series Happy Valley, told Sky News he has friends who were IVF babies and other friends who have had their own children thanks to the fertility treatment.

“But I didn’t know about these three scientists and their sacrifice, tenacity and skill,” he said. The star hopes the film will be “a catalyst for conversation” about the treatment and its availability.

“We know for a fact that Jean, Bob and Patrick would not have liked the fact that IVF is now so means based,” he said. “It’s prohibitively expensive for some… and there is a postcode lottery which means that some people are precluded from that opportunity.”

Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. Pic: Netflix/ Kerry Brown
Image:
Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. All pics: Netflix/ Kerry Brown

Now, IVF is considered a wonder of modern medicine. More than 12 million people owe their existence today to the treatment Edwards, Steptoe and Purdy worked so hard to devise.

But Joy shows how public backlash in the years leading up to Louise’s birth saw the team vilified – accused of playing God and creating “Frankenstein babies”.

Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie star alongside Norton, with the script written by acclaimed screenwriter Jack Thorne and his wife Rachel Mason.

The couple went through seven rounds of IVF themselves to conceive their son.

James Norton and Thomasin McKenzie star in Joy. Pic: Kerry Brown/ Netflix
Image:
Norton portrays scientist Bob Edwards, while McKenzie plays embryologist Jean Purdy

While the film is set in the 1970s, the reality is that societal pressures haven’t changed all that much for many going through IVF today – with the costs now both emotional and financial.

“IVF is still seen as a luxury product, as something that some people get access to and others don’t,” said Thorne, speaking about their experiences in the UK.

“Louise was a working-class girl with working-class parents. Working class IVF babies are very, very rare now.”

In the run-up to the US election, Donald Trump saw IVF as a campaigning point – promising his government, or insurance companies, would pay for the treatment for all women should he be elected. He called himself the “father of IVF” at a campaign event – a remark described as “quite bizarre” by Kamala Harris.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Bill Nighy ‘proud’ of new film on IVF breakthrough

“I don’t think Trump is a blueprint for this,” Norton said. “I don’t know how that fits alongside his questions around pro-choice.”

Read more:
Boy George on the price of fame
The fan club president who joined the band

In the UK, statistics from fertility regulator HEFA show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade.

“It’s so expensive,” Norton said. “Those who want a child should have that choice… and some people’s lack of access to this incredibly important science actually means that people don’t have the choice.”

Joy is in UK cinemas from 15 November, and on Netflix from 22 November

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Cillian Murphy and wife Yvonne McGuinness buy cinema Oscar winner visited as a child

Published

on

By

Cillian Murphy and wife Yvonne McGuinness buy cinema Oscar winner visited as a child

Cillian Murphy and his wife Yvonne McGuinness have bought a cinema the Oscar-winning actor used to visit as a child.

The couple will refurbish The Phoenix Cinema in Dingle, County Kerry, south-west Ireland, next year.

The venue, which had previously been used as a dance hall, had been in operation for more than 100 years, and on the market for three before Murphy and McGuinness bought the building.

Oppenheimer and Peaky Blinders star Murphy, from Cork, said: “I’ve been going to see films at The Phoenix since I was a young boy on summer holidays.

“My dad saw movies there when he was a young man before me, and we’ve watched many films at The Phoenix with our own kids. We recognise what the cinema means to Dingle.”

McGuinness added: “We want to open the doors again, expand the creative potential of the site, re-establishing its place in the cultural fabric of this unique town.”

FILE - Cillian Murphy poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role for "Oppenheimer" at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 10, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Image:
Murphy won big this awards season. Pic: AP

Read more from Sky News:
Thousands of jobs to go at Bosch
MPs to review pensioner poverty

The Phoenix is the only cinema in the tourist area of the Dingle Peninsula, and without it, the closest other movie theatre for residents of the town is in Tralee, almost 30 miles away.

It opened in 1919 and was reconstructed twice in the decades that followed, after fires damaged the building.

Its previous owners struggled to keep The Phoenix going amid the COVID-19 pandemic and shut the cinema’s doors in November 2021, citing rising costs, falling attendance and challenging exhibition terms.

Murphy took awards season by storm this year, winning a Golden Globe, a Bafta and an Oscar for his performance as the titular character in Oppenheimer.

Next year, he will reprise one of his most well-known roles by playing Tommy Shelby in a movie version of Peaky Blinders.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Ed Sheeran ‘helped Ipswich sign player’ before appearing on stage with Taylor Swift

Published

on

By

Ed Sheeran 'helped Ipswich sign player' before appearing on stage with Taylor Swift

Ed Sheeran helped Ipswich Town to sign a player over the summer just before getting on stage with Taylor Swift, according to the club’s chief executive.

Mark Ashton claims the pop star got on a video call to encourage a prospective new signing to seal his move to the East Anglia outfit.

He did not reveal the player’s name, but said he is “certainly scoring a few goals” and is a fan of Sheeran, who is a minor shareholder at his hometown club.

“Ed jumped on a Zoom call with him at the training ground, just before he stepped on stage with Taylor Swift,” Ashton told a Soccerex industry event in Miami.

“Hopefully that was a key part in getting the player across the line.”

Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran perform onstage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at Wembley Stadium on August 15, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management )
Image:
Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium. Pic: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images

Sheeran and pop icon Swift were on stage together on 15 August at Wembley Stadium, one day before Sammie Szmodics signed from Blackburn.

After scoring an overhead kick in Ipswich’s 2-1 win over Tottenham this month, he shared a picture of himself with Sheeran on Instagram.

“Overhead kick, Win & a smudge with big ed. GET IN THERE,” Szmodics wrote alongside the post.

Ashton joked Sheeran is now “officially a part of our recruitment team”, adding he is a “local man” and “global superstar”.

Read more:
Sheeran reignites swimming pool row
Sheeran ‘didn’t give Band Aid 40 permission’

Sheeran has been the club’s shirt sponsor since 2021 and is regularly seen at matches at the club’s Portman Road stadium.

Ipswich host giants Manchester United on Sunday, a match that’s particularly notable for being Ruben Amorim‘s first game in charge of the Red Devils.

Continue Reading

Trending