Charli XCX has continued her Brat domination at the BRITs, winning five awards, including album of the year.
This year’s most nominated artist, she took the first prize of the night, best song, telling the crowd: “I’m really happy that a song about underwear now has a Brit award, very important stuff and I’m sure that that proves something about songwriting but I’m not quite sure what.”
The 32-year-old, whose real name is Charlotte Aitchison, went on to win best dance act and artist of the year, joking that there had been complaints about her sheer top, and adding “free the nipple”.
Taking the top prize of the night, best album, she said: “I used to tell myself awards weren’t important, and that was easy to do as until last year I wasn’t nominated for anything.
“I always felt like an outsider, particularly in the British music industry, it feels really nice to get recognition for this album. I’ve not changed anything… I guess culture caught up with us and wanted to be on this journey.”
She’d already picked up BRIT songwriter of the year award earlier this week.
Her success follows a Brat Summer, which saw her sixth album – featuring “slime green” artwork – go viral, influencing the US presidential campaign of Kamala Harris and making it into the Collins Dictionary as word of the year.
The biggest night in British music, the ceremony at London’s O2 arena was hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall, who was back for the fifth time.
Image: Sabrina Carpenter opened proceedings. Pic: Reuters
There were live performances by artists including Sabrina Carpenter, who opened proceedings, Myles Smith and Sam Fender.
Former Little Mix star JADE took her first solo award for best pop act, presented by girl band Sugababes.
She thanked her fans for their support, her parents for “for making me feel like it was a realistic goal to be a pop star ever since I was a little girl,” and her former bandmates who she said changed her life.
British singer-songwriter Myles Smith – whose single Stargazing became one of the UK’s biggest hits of 2024 – had previously been named as this year’s rising star.
His award was presented to him on the night by last year’s winners The Last Dinner Party.
Image: Myles Smith had urgent questions for those in authority. Pic: Reuters
The singer-songwriter – who said he was from what has been called “the worst town in Luton,” raised by a single mother – asked the government why they treated the British music industry “as an afterthought”.
He also asked big music venues what they were doing to help keep grassroots venues alive, as well as highlighting the importance of music managers supporting stars beyond their first hit.
British jazz quintet Ezra Collective took group of the year, paying tribute to the “great youth clubs, great schools, and great teachers” inspiring young people to take up music.
Alaos announced ahead of the ceremony, Sabrina Carpenter became the first international artist to receive the global success award after breaking records in the UK charts.
She held the top spot on the Official UK Charts for a combined 21 weeks in 2024, the first artist to do so in 71 years.
Her mega-hits Taste, Please Please Please and Espresso also held the top three spots simultaneously, making her the first female artist to do so.
A pre-recorded video by music legend Diana Ross led into her award, which was given to her by her close friend, Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown.
Image: Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown presented a prize. Pic: AP
Accepting her prize, Carpenter spoke about coming to the UK with her mother previously when no one knew who she was, and now coming back and “getting to headline the O2”.
She also spoke about her appreciation of British humour, saying “your humour is so, so dry,” and her admiration for the British love of caffeine, mainly via a nice cup of tea.
Chappell Roan took song of the year for Good Luck, Babe! as well as international artist of the year.
Stormzy thanked Jesus for his win in the hip-hop, grime, rap act category, saying he thought fellow nominee, Central Cee, was rap artist of the year.
Apologising for wearing his sunglasses on stage, which he said was because he’d “mashed up his eye playing padel” (a sporting mash-up of tennis, squash, and badminton), he read a short Biblical quote as he accepted his prize.
Image: Jack Whitehall flew close to the wind in places, roasting his A-list audience. Pic: PA
Raye took British R&B act. Last year she made BRITs history when she secured six awards, the most by an artist in a single year.
Irish post-punk band Fontaines DC took international group of the year for the second time.
British indie rock act The Last Dinner Party took best new artist after winning the BAFTA rising star award last year.
They called small independent venues the “lifeblood of the music industry”, adding, “we wouldn’t be here without them”.
Song of the year Charli XCX featuring Billie Eilish – Guess featuring billie Eilish Artemas – I Like The Way You Kiss Me The Beatles – Now And Then BL3SS x Camrin Watsin featuring bbyclose – Kisses Central Cee featuring Lil Baby – BAND4BAND Chase & Status / Stormzy – Backbone Coldplay – feelslikeimfallinginlove Dua Lipa – Training Season Ella Henderson (feat Rudimental) – Alibi JADE – Angel Of My Dreams Jordan Adetunji – KEHLANI KSI featuring Trippie Redd – Thick Of It Myles Smith – Stargazing Sam Ryder – You’re Christmas To Me Sonny Fodera / Jazzy / DOD – Somedays
Alternative rock act Sam Fender Beabadoobee The Cure Ezra Collective The Last Dinner Party
Pop act JADE Charli XCX Dua Lipa Lola Young Myles Smith
Dance act Charli XCX Becky Hill Chase & Status Fred again.. Nia Archives
Group of the year Ezra Collective Bring Me The Horizon Coldplay The Cure The Last Dinner Party
International song of the year Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe! Benson Boone – Beautiful Things Beyoncé – TEXAS HOLD ‘EM Billie Eilish – BIRDS OF A FEATHER Djo – End Of Beginning Eminem – Houdini Hozier – Too Sweet Jack Harlow – Lovin On Me Noah Kahan – Stick Season Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen – I Had Some Help Sabrina Carpenter – Espresso Shaboozey – A Bar Song (Tipsy) Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone – Fortnight Teddy Swims – Lose Control Tommy Richman – MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Hip-hop/ grime/ rap act Stormzy Central Cee Dave Ghetts Little Simz
R&B act Raye Cleo Sol FLO Jorja Smith Michael Kiwanuka
International group of the year Fontaines DC Amyl And The Sniffers Confidence Man Future & Metro Boomin Linkin Park
Best new artist The Last Dinner Party English Teacher Ezra Collective Myles Smith Rachel Chinouriri
International artist of the year Chappell Roan Adrianne Lenker Asake Benson Boone Beyoncé Billie Eilish Kendrick Lamar Sabrina Carpenter Taylor Swift Tyler, The Creator
Artist of the year Charli XCX Beabadoobee Central Cee Dua Lipa Fred again.. Jamie xx Michael Kiwanuka Nia Archives Rachel Chinouriri Sam Fender
Album of the year Charli XCX – BRAT The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism Ezra Collective – Dance, No One’s Watching The Last Dinner Party – Prelude To Ecstasy
Actor Michael Madsen, who starred in Reservoir Dogs and Thelma & Louise, died from heart failure, his cardiologist has said.
The 67-year-old was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, California, last Thursday and pronounced dead.
His doctor said heart disease and alcoholism will be listed as factors which contributed to the star’s death, reported NBC Los Angeles.
With no suspicious circumstances and the death listed as being from natural causes, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department considers the case closed.
In a career spanning more than 40 years, Madsen’s film credits include Free Willy, Donnie Brasco and Sin City.
He was also known for his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino, including in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
The Chicago-born actor also linked up with Tarantino when he played Mr Blonde in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs.
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Image: Madsen played numerous roles, including Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. Pic: THA/Shutterstock
His sister, Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, paid tribute to her brother in a statement to Variety.
She wrote: “My brother Michael has left the stage.
“He was thunder and velvet. Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother – etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark.”
Madsen was preparing to release a new book called Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts And Poems.
A statement by managers Susan Ferris and Smith, and publicist Liz Rodriguez, said the book by “one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors” was currently being edited.
Horse-drawn carriages, picturesque gardens and endless cups of tea are just some of the stereotypical tropes that have shaped America’s romanticised image of England before even stepping foot on the island.
Thanks to classical literature and a steady stream of period dramas, Lena Dunham was no exception.
“I had so many fantasies,” she tells Sky News about growing up slightly obsessed with British culture.
“I loved Jane Austen, I loved Charlotte Bronte, I love British film, I was one of those little Anglophile kids.”
The writer and director believed it would be that area of classically depicted England that would fill her time when she first moved to “jolly old London” as a teenager with her mother for a brief time.
Instead, her attention was taken by another, and possibly equally influential group of artists.
“There was a pop show about S Club 7 and all I did was just sit in the hotel and obsessively watch things relating to [the group],” she said.
“So, I didn’t go home with all this cultural British knowledge. I went home with a deep abiding love of S Club 7 and came back to school when everyone was obsessed with the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.
“For me, I was literally like, ‘Guys, you got to hear this hot track right off the presses, it’s called Reach For The Stars’.”
Image: Pic: Netflix
It wasn’t until her 30s, when the actress moved again to the city, that reality took hold and she quickly learned the difference between the imagined London and the real city.
Some stereotypes hold true, like the universal love for Paddington. Still, TV tropes like renting a flat on a single income in the city does not necessarily mean you’ll be treated to lavish rooms and a picturesque garden.
She says it was social cues she found most challenging to adjust to, as well as the different dictionaries used when speaking, technically, the same language.
“You come to a new country and even though you speak the same language, you’re totally absent from those tools,” she says.
“And I found that really striking as an adult in my 30s, trying to make friends, trying to date. I found it confusing enough to be a person in my own city of origin, so this was extra confounding.”
Too Much, her new Netflixseries, is loosely inspired by her own London chapter and follows a workaholic New Yorker in her 30s who is sent across the Atlantic to work on a new project.
The 10-episode show is produced by Working Title – the company behind Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, About A Boy and Love Actually – and stars Hacks breakout actress Megan Stalter and The White Lotus actor Will Sharpe.
Image: Pic: Netflix
Dunham says she always wanted to write about her time in the UK, but it was a conversation with Irish actor Andrew Scott that got the ball rolling.
“Actually, he’s the reason that I came to know Meg as an actor because he loved her on Hacks and he loved her videos, and he said: ‘Have you watched this woman’s work? I feel like there’s a real connection between you two’, and I started watching because of him and built a show around her.”
In a full circle moment, Scott appears in the series briefly as an arrogantly odd man who crosses paths with Megan Stalter’s character Jessica.
Image: Pic: Netflix
The Ridley actor isn’t the only famous face joining the cast in a cameo role. Dunham put a call out to most of Hollywood, and luckily lots were on board.
To name just a few, guest stars include Jessica Alba, Stephen Fry, Adwoa Aboah, Kit Harington, Rita Wilson, Rita Ora, Richard E Grant, Emily Ratajkowski, Andrew Scott, Prasanna Puwanarajah and Jennifer Saunders.
“It was one of those situations where you just reach for the stars, literally, and then you can’t believe when they appear,” says Dunham.
“It was just a non-stop parade of people that I was fascinated by, wanted to be around, completely enamoured of.”
Image: A whole host of high-profile cameos feature in Lena Dunham’s Too Much
She adds: “I remember asking Naomi Watson, thinking, there’s absolutely no way that you’re going to want to come play this slightly demented woman. And she’s so playful and she’s so joyful and she just wanted to come and engage.
“Also, Jennifer Saunders has meant so much to me for so long, I had the AbFab box set as a kid, and I just think Patsy and Edina are the ultimate kind of messy women.
“She really showed me what comedy could be and… the space that women could occupy in comedy, and so having her come and join the show was really incredible.
“That was an episode that someone else was directing, Alicia McDonald, an amazing director, so I just got to sit and watch at the monitor like I was watching a movie, and it was very surreal for me.”
Former MasterChef host Gregg Wallace has vowed he will “not go quietly”, amid reports that he has been sacked by the BBC.
It comes after the TV hostfaced an investigation, commissioned by MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK, into alleged inappropriate behaviour while working for the BBC.
In November, the 60-year-old stepped back from presenting the cooking show after accusations that he made sexual comments towards staff and celebrity guests on a range of programmes over 17 years.
Image: Gregg Wallace received an MBE for services to food and charity in 2023. Pic: PA
Broadcaster Kirsty Wark, author and actor Emma Kennedy, and presenter Kirstie Allsopp, were among the high-profile figures who made claims of inappropriate behaviour against Wallace.
In a statement, released ahead of the publication of the summary of a report into the claims, the 60-year-old said he had been “cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations” made against him.
However, he said the report, carried out by independent law firm Lewis Silkin, had found him “primarily guilty of inappropriate language between 2005 and 2018”.
Wallace’s statement, published on Instagram, came hours before the BBC News reported that 50 more people had made claims to the corporation against the presenter, including allegations he groped one MasterChef worker and pulled his trousers down in front of another.
In his statement, Wallace labelled BBC News’s claims as “uncorroborated tittle-tattle”.
Wallace wrote: “I have taken the decision to speak out ahead of the publication of the Silkin’s report – a decision I do not take lightly.
“But after 21 years of loyal service to the BBC, I cannot sit in silence while my reputation is further damaged to protect others.
“I have now been cleared by the Silkin’s report of the most serious and sensational accusations made against me.
“The most damaging claims (including from public figures which have not been upheld) were found to be baseless after a full and forensic six-month investigation.
“To be clear, the Silkin’s report exonerates me of all the serious allegations which made headlines last year and finds me primarily guilty of inappropriate language between 2005 and 2018.”
Image: Gregg Wallace on MasterChef. Pic: BBC/ Shine TV 2024
‘I was hired as the cheeky greengrocer – now that’s a problem’
Wallace said he recognised that “some of my humour and language” was at times “inappropriate” and, for that, he apologised “without reservation”.
“But I was never the caricature now being sold for clicks,” Wallace, who also referred to his recent diagnosis of autism, added.
“I was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as the cheeky greengrocer. A real person with warmth, character, rough edges, and all.
“For over two decades, that authenticity was part of the brand. Now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem.”
Image: Wallace and his partner Anna Wallace, pictured in 2014
Wallace: Complaints from ‘middle-class women of a certain age’
Shortly after the allegations first emerged, Wallace recorded a video where he dismissed his accusers as “middle-class women of a certain age”.
His remarks were met with huge criticism – including from Downing Street, where a spokesperson for the prime minister described them as “completely inappropriate and misogynistic”.
Wallace responded by posting a follow-up clip where he apologised and said he “wasn’t in a good space” when he posted the comments.
In April, Wallace spoke to the Daily Mail, denying all accusations against him and saying he had contemplated suicide following the allegations.
Wallace’s lawyers have previously called allegations that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature “entirely false”.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “Banijay UK instructed the law firm Lewis Silkin to run an investigation into allegations against Gregg Wallace. We are not going to comment until the investigation is complete and the findings are published.”
A Banijay spokesperson told Sky News: “We won’t be commenting until our report is published.” They have signalled the report will be published later this week or next.
Banijay previously said Wallace is “committed to fully co-operating” with the external review.
Alongside MasterChef, Wallace presented Inside The Factory for BBC Two from 2015 to 2023.
He also featured on various BBC shows over the years, including Saturday Kitchen, Eat Well For Less, Supermarket Secrets, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals, as well as being a Strictly Come Dancing contestant in 2014.
More recently, Wallace has been promoting his health and lifestyle website, offering one-to-one coaching from both himself and a team of experts, which includes nutritionists and doctors, and his wife Anna in the role of recipe curator.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.