They start filming the new series of MasterChef next year — and sources at the show are already ruling out the possibility of Gregg Wallace returning, no matter what the inquiry into his behaviour finds.
The question is: who will be stepping into his shoes? At this early stage, the programme bosses would like chef Andi Oliver or food critic Grace Dent to take Wallace’s place.
Oliver has worked on Great British Menu and presented her own show, Andi’s Fabulous Feasts. Dent has appeared on MasterChef as a judge many times.
I’m told that the ‘dream’ would be to pair one of them with renowned chef Angela Hartnett, a previous guest judge. She has a hugely successful podcast, Dish, with Nick Grimshaw, and a lot of broadcasting experience. But they fear that they might not be able to persuade her to hop on board.
Wallace’s co-host John Torode is described by one on the show as ‘the legacy host’, and it looks as if the idea that he was around — and thus possibly a witness to Wallace’s behaviour — may count against him, at least for some.
He has presented the cooking show alongside Wallace since 2005. Torode himself is keen to hang on, as he made clear with a statement on Wednesday this week.
I am told: ‘The idea of a complete reboot is appealing.’ Another source demurs: ‘It’s too early to say anything definitive yet — except that Gregg won’t be coming back.’
They continued: ‘Angela Hartnett is the ideal person they would love to get on the show, but it’s not clear if she might agree, and if she would want to devote the time to it.
Greg Wallace on ‘Loose Women’ TV show, London, UK – 19 Jun 2023
John Torode on ‘This Morning’ TV show, London, UK – 15 Oct 2024
John Torode and Gregg Wallace John Torode and Gregg Wallace at the ‘Masterchef’ Studios, London, Britain
‘They want to have one presenter who is a proper, authentic professional chef. The other person, the ‘Gregg’ if you like, could be Andi Oliver or Grace Dent. They really like Grace Dent.
‘I think that some people also like Tom Allen and (chef) Matt Tebbutt. It won’t be Jay Rayner. He is ‘too strong meat’ for people.’
The source added that Wallace believes Torode would be happy for his wife, actress Lisa Faulkner and previous Celebrity MasterChef winner, to present the show with him. That’s thought to be what prompted him to unfollow the pair of them on social media. However I’m told that a ‘nepotistic’ hire of Torode’s wife doesn’t strike bosses as the best solution to the current crisis.
Wallace announced this week that he is ‘stepping away’ from the show amid numerous allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
New Snape Unmasked
Following the news in these pages last week that HBO will be casting much younger actors as the adults in the forthcoming Harry Potter TV series, the Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Paapa Essiedu, who is 34, is in the frame to play teacher Severus Snape.
The late Alan Rickman (pictured) took the role in the films. Both men started their acting careers on stage; both with the RSC.
Following the news in these pages last week that HBO will be casting much younger actors as the adults in the forthcoming Harry Potter TV series, the Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Paapa Essiedu, who is 34, is in the frame to play teacher Severus Snape
As mentioned last week, Mark Rylance is said to be circling the role of Dumbledore, who was played by Richard Harris and then Michael Gambon in the films.
The TV series will be told in ten parts, over a decade, and be a ‘faithful’ adaptation of the books. A spokesman for HBO said: ‘We will only confirm details as we finalise deals’.
No Rest For The Wicked
There’s no rest for the wicked – and that also goes for theatre producer Jamie Wilson. He started rehearsals for a touring production of Calamity Jane, with former Cinderella Carrie Hope Fletcher, the morning after the gala performance of Elton John’s musical The Devil Wears Prada. The whip-crackin’ tour starts in January.
Latest bright Young thing rises from Down Under
Watch out for Odessa Young. Hailed as ‘Australia’s next great actress’, she is currently appearing opposite Jeremy Allen White, pictured right, in the Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere, which is shooting in New Jersey.
The film covers the period running up to his release of the 1982 album Nebraska and Odessa, who is a Springsteen fan, is playing his girlfriend ‘Faye’.
In real life, Springsteen dated model and actress Joyce Hyser from 1979 to 1985.
Odessa Young attends ‘The Damned’ premiere during the 2024 Tribeca Festival at SVA Theater on June 06, 2024 in New York City
Hyser is the beautiful girl in the pop video for the Dan Hartman song I Can Dream About You, and after breaking up with the Boss, she dated Warren Beatty for more than a year.
Odessa is going to be seen next as the girlfriend of a white supremacist cult leader (played by Nicholas Hoult) in The Order, which comes out on December 27.
She’s also the object of Saltburn star Jacob Elordi’s erotic obsession in an adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning novel The Narrow Road To The Deep North, which has just been bought by the BBC.
Costswolds Ellen in a tight spot
Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia De Rossi are making great efforts to integrate with the locals, as they start a new life in an idyllic village in the Cotswolds.
However there has been an unfortunate, and expensive, early setback as I hear that the couple have splashed out on a vintage Land Rover Defender which is so wide that they don’t dare drive it through the width restrictors guarding their new village.
It’s a crying shame, as their local pub is just 400 metres away — on the other side of a width restrictor and a width-restricted bridge, both set at 6ft 6in. The car is 5ft 10in wide, and it seems that squeaking through the metal bollards with a mere 4in to spare on each side isn’t an option.
Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia De Rossi are making great efforts to integrate with the locals, as they start a new life in an idyllic village in the Cotswolds
Instead, they’ve been spotted making a mile-and-a-half detour to come into the village from the opposite end. They’ve also been seen walking.
The couple have another car, a Land Rover Discovery, which is even bigger and is actually nearly 3in wider than the gap between the bollards.
Portia and Ellen recently emigrated from the States to live in a remote Cotswolds farmhouse, apparently because of their dislike of President-elect Donald Trump. They have put their home in Montecito, California, on the market and, according to US reports, won’t be returning while Trump is in the White House.
The couple’s farmhouse is set within 43 acres of gardens, paddocks and fields and has a river running through it. It has six bedrooms, a gym, a 55ft indoor swimming pool, a separate guest cottage, orchards, a wildflower meadow and hundreds of feet of river frontage. The house was surrounded by flood waters last week when a tributary of the Thames broke its banks after Storm Bert hit the UK.
The couple were first spotted enjoying a lunch at Jeremy Clarkson’s new pub, The Farmer’s Dog, along with other celebrities including Natalie Imbruglia, The Corrs and James Blunt.
Bogart, by the wife who tried to shoot him
The life of screen legend Humphrey Bogart is thrillingly narrated by the man himself in a new documentary, Bogart: Life Comes In Flashes.
Director Kathryn Ferguson, with the cooperation of Bogart’s family, mined unseen letters, unheard interview tapes and old newspaper articles to put together a script in which we hear the actor’s life story in his own words.
Humphrey Bogart and wife
There is a focus on the women in his life — his mother and the four women he married, including Lauren Bacall.
His third marriage, to Mayo Methot (pictured), was tumultuous and they were known as the Battling Bogarts, having a huge row on their wedding day and spending the night apart. Mutual friend Dan Seymour recalls that, while filming Casablanca, he and Bogie went out drinking and returned home to find Methot in a drunk and jealous rage… and waving a gun.
‘She came out on the balcony and had a .45,’ Seymour said. ‘I hit the ground. He got up and said: ‘You missed!’
‘I said: ‘You must be out of your gourd, Bogie — good night!’
Bogie himself commented on his love of a tough broad: ‘I must like a certain kind of woman. I have certainly married enough of them.’ Ferguson said: ‘As we began developing the film, we quickly decided that the idea of telling Bogart’s story by interweaving the stories of the women in his life really excited us.’
Best Seat In The House
Gyles Brandreth thinks he has a magic touch on Celebrity Gogglebox. ‘I have a different person to sit next to each year. So far they’ve all been made dames subsequently,’ he says. ‘Maureen Lipman, Sheila Hancock, Joanna Lumley…they all became dames.
‘Michele (his wife) thinks it’s because the late Queen was watching, saw these poor women and thought: “They’ve suffered enough!” ’
‘This year I did it with Lulu… a CBE, not yet a dame, but I have high hopes for her.’
Boy George’s Crush
Boy George has revealed that he used to have a celebrity crush on U2’s drummer Larry Mullen Jr— which singer Bono teased him about.
oy George of Boy George and Culture Club performs at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas on Oct. 15, 2022
The Culture Club frontman, who clearly has a thing for drummers (he had a long relationship with the group’s stick man Jon Moss), met Bono at the Band Aid recording session in 1984.
He said that he used to tell Bono that if he hadn’t found what he was looking for, he should check behind the drum kit.
George said that years later, he went to see U2. ‘Bono invited me,’ he said. ‘They started ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’, and they started the intro, and Bono goes: ‘Larry Mullen Jr indeed, huh’, because he knew I was there.
‘Whenever I see Bono he’s always so lovely. A lot of famous people, particularly when they’re quite legendary, they’re very stuck up – and I’ve been in so many places where Bono has just walked across the room to say hello to me.’
He added: ‘Larry was terrified of me for years. I met Larry’s wife once and she was: ‘You after my man?’
‘I was like: ‘Get real! Come on, no.’ ‘