The Steeple Times

Tag: drama

  • Bamber Bats Back

    Bamber Bats Back

    Jeremy Bamber’s legal team go to the high court after it emerges that the CPS may have handed crucial evidence – not available to them – to an author involved in the ITV drama ‘White House Farm’

    On Friday, at an oral renewal hearing in Leeds, the high court will be asked to “review the refusal of the Crown Prosecution Service to disclose evidence they believe could undermine [the] conviction” of Jeremy Bamber according to the Guardian’s Simon Hattenstone.

     

    Bamber’s legal representative, solicitor advocate Mark Newby of Quality Solicitors Jordans, told the paper:

     

    “Since proceedings were issued it came to our attention that the author of the book the ITV drama was based upon [Carol Ann Lee] appears to have received material directly from the police [images of which she shared on Instagram and later deleted].”

     

    “It cannot be right that an author has been given material that Mr Bamber’s defence team have not seen, particularly in light of the persistent refusal by the CPS to disclose specific material we have been asking for. It raises the question of whether a work of fiction is more important than justice.”

     

    Illustrating her tellingly selective thoughts on what evidence should be released, to whom and where, in an interview with the East Anglian Daily Times in January this year, Ms Lee – whose son also worked with her on the White House Farm drama – stated:

     

    “My personal opinion is very much that he’s guilty. He’s been in prison for 30 years and the evidence he was convicted on has not been overturned. He’s been appealing ever since he’s been in prison and nothing has come out that has been able to overturn that conviction… And for me the overriding piece of evidence, if you like, was looking at the original crime scene photographs. Without going into detail, it was obvious from one of the photographs in particular, that has never been published and should never be published, that those murders were committed by somebody who was extremely adept with a gun – who knew what they were doing.”

     

    Responding and speaking of news of Friday’s hearing from Wakefield prison to the Guardian, Jeremy Bamber commented:

     

    “It is disgusting that a third party was provided with documents and sensitive photographs when Essex police and the CPS have been unwilling to hand over material to our own forensic experts to prove that two silencers were recovered from the scene.”

     

    “Despite court orders being in place for them to make full disclosure to us, which they deliberately chose to ignore, when Carol Ann Lee requested material she was given it without a second thought. Where is my justice?”

     

    Pictured top: Jeremy Bamber and Carol Ann Lee.

     

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  • Horrified of Haddenham

    Horrified of Haddenham

    Irrational ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’ type correspondence is on the increase in national newspapers during the coronavirus lockdown; ‘Horrified of Haddenham’ cash-coronavirus conspiracist Garry May is a fine case in point

    The coronavirus lockdown has no doubt resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’ (and even paradoxically ‘Delighted of Tunbridge Wells’) types corresponding with both national and local newspapers. There are, after all, now many more people moping around at home with little else to do other than to ponder with a pen (or clatter on a keyboard).

     

    Whilst in November 2019, The Telegraph stated that its letters editor received and read 600 missives per day from readers (and subsequently published 18 of them in their next edition) and in June that year, the Guardian referenced a by comparison meagre sum of 82 per day (citing 30,000 communications annually), one can only assume that both publications have seen huge spikes in their mailbags in the last few weeks – the content of which of course now mostly arrives by email rather than with the help of the Royal Mail.

     

    Editors such as Christopher Howse – who has worked on The Telegraph’s letters pages for over twenty years – however, is plainly still favouring letters from his reliable riled-up regulars and yesterday was no exception. In publishing a totally irrational observation from one Garry May of Haddenham, Buckinghamshire linking cash to coronavirus (a totally nonsensical view very clearly empirically denied by the World Health Organisation in March), the paper fulfilled its ability to share views to spread yet more Eamonn Holmes-esque claptrap. This kind of 5G type twaddle will no doubt appeal to its stereotypical conspiracy theory believing old buffer audience, but it is without factual base.

     

    In his letter, Mr May suggested:

     

    SIR – I hope this pandemic cements the use of debit cards for all transactions, and thereby the end of cash.

     

    Bank notes and coins spread diseases. Ruling out ready money could also put an end to most drug deals on our streets.

     

    Garry May

    Haddenham, Buckinghamshire

     

    On a date exact unknown circa 2011, in a letter to The Telegraph, that was subsequently republished in the compilation book The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum: Political Letters to The Daily Telegraph, Mr May previously shared his views on phone hacking. He presented yet another pastiche of days gone by and read:

     

    SIR – The hacking scandal left my family debating who we can still rely on. Our shortlist of trustworthies came down to the Gurkhas, other ranks in our Armed Forces, postmen and Simon the pieman, who works in the butcher’s shop.

     

    Garry May

    Haddenham, Buckinghamshire

     

    Mr May’s archaic idealism might resonate as charming and worthy, but what should be noted is that this prolific man of letters belonging in the 1950s lives in Haddenham, a quintessential English village that most definitely has Midsomer Murders-esque qualities (it was used as a location in eight episodes of the television drama even). One of only three ‘wychert’ settlements in the country and a place peppered with thatched cottages and a duck pond famed for breeding Aylesbury ducks, one can imagine the era of “old maids bicycling to holy communion through the morning mist” John Major-style still reigns in this parish.

     

    Indeed, at this time, as countless rural residents turn to growing their own vegetables and even start going to their local ‘community shop’ in order to avoid queuing for hours whilst safe distancing at Tesco, many will join in eulogising a love of postmen and piemen and – quite rightly – a loathing for evil drug dealers also.

     

    Sadly, however, getting rid of cash will not wipe out that particularly vile scourge on society and it will not stop the spread of coronavirus. Instead, maybe it’s time for ‘Horrified of Haddenham’ to find another topic to get het up about: Perhaps, indeed, Mr May could turn his pen to the squealing sickness of snitching ‘quarantine shaming’ or maybe he could just calm down and pour himself a large G&T.

     

    An early example of ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’ correspondence:

    SIR – Being present at the unveiling of the plaque on Thursday last week on the Pantiles, I was surprised when the National Anthem was played to see that in a place like Tunbridge Wells, which is noted for its loyalty and calls itself ‘Royal,’ there should be people who refused to remove their hats. Are such people Communists? If they are, Tunbridge Wells should be no place for such as they. We can do without them.

     

    Letters to the Editor, ‘Tunbridge Wells Advertiser’ – 14th June 1929.

     

    Pictured top: Haddenham, Buckinghamshire – a quintessentially quaint English village with a duck pond and thatched cottages from whence nosy parkers peer from behind net curtains.

     

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  • A Major Cough-up

    A Major Cough-up

    ITV’s ‘Quiz’ has definitely left the public questioning the conviction of the ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ £1 million cheat Major Charles Ingram in 2003, but what the programme did not reveal is actually more fascinating

    “After all that, can we be sure the Ingrams were guilty?” asked The Telegraph’s Chris Bennion in his review of the final episode of the three-part hit, Quiz, and indeed the ending has achieved the inevitable and will likely reignite interest in a story that dates back to 2001.

     

    For the few that may not remember what occurred, a Major Charles Ingram won the maximum prize of £1 million on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on the 10th September 2001, the day before the 9/11 attacks on America. Ingram’s wife and her brother, Adrian Pollock, had previously each won £32,000.

     

    Immediately after the jackpot was scooped, the programme’s production company, Celador, suspecting Ingram had cheated suspended payment of the winnings. The police were called in and ultimately, after a four week trial in March and April 2003 at Southwark Crown Court, the Ingrams and another contestant, a lecturer and their alleged accomplice, Tecwen Whittock, were convicted of “procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception.” All three were given prison sentences suspended for two years, fined £15,000 each and ordered to pay £10,000 towards prosecution costs. These sums were later reduced on appeal.

     

    Whilst many will know that Ingram was then forced to resign his commission as a major after 17 years and that he and his wife appeared on countless television shows including The Weakest Link, sadly Quiz did not delve into other bizarre twists in this “eccentric” pair’s life in the time since their “fifteen minutes of coughing fame/shame.”

     

    Aside from being bankrupted four times in the intervening years (most recently in 2019), the former army officer chopped three of his toes off in a freak lawnmower accident in September 2010. Ironically, the “cheat” and then resident of Easterton, Wiltshire did the injury when he “slipped on a rotten apple.” Of the incident, Ingram recalled “lying on the grass” and thinking: “Oh dear… I certainly won’t be mowing any lawns again soon.”

     

    Earlier, yet not long after his Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? conviction in November 2003, Ingram was convicted of an entirely unrelated insurance fraud. Found guilty of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception and of deception by trying to claim on that policy after an alleged burglary, the already disgraced son of a retired RAF wing commander added a two-year conditional discharge to his burgeoning rap sheet.

     

    The Ingrams, now, but not revealed in the show either, are based in Maiden Bradley, Warminster and run a non-registered for UK VAT company that trades as ‘Diana Ingram.’ It sells Murano glass jewellery for prices ranging from £15 to £75 and of her wares, Mrs Ingram states: “Most products listed can be altered for shape, colour, length, etc., though prices may vary. I ship worldwide and nothing is too much trouble – I regularly offer personalised wrapping and buy and write birthday cards too!” No mention is made as to whether any kind of cheat sheets can be enclosed if requested sadly.

     

    Charles Ingram, meanwhile, has kept himself busy on Twitter since September 2013 using the handle @gallantfive. He describes himself as: “English, Irish, European, Family, Labour, LUFC and proud remainer wanting a fairer world” and has over 7,100 followers. Whilst describing Quiz as “simply brilliant” and “terrifyingly accurate,” his family have plainly had a few visits from the media as a result of the show. Now represented by one Skye Redman at 89up, a firm that somewhat immodestly has self-appointed itself as “Europe’s biggest communications agency for great causes,” the ex-major this week tweeted:

     

    “Media: Please #StayHomeSaveLives. In any event I assure you that doorstepping is wasting your time. My solicitor, Rhona Friedman, is available for comment via phone or video conferencing. For interviews please contact Skye Redman at 89up.”

     

    After the conclusion of Quiz, Friedman told the Guardian: “I just know that they did not do it… I just feel very sorry for them.” She intends to file paperwork associated with the case in the summer “with hopes for a hearing at the end of the year,” and given the reaction of the public after the ending of this week’s dramatisation, one thing’s for sure: We’ve not seen the last of ‘The Coughing Major’ and his ever-so-earnest wife just yet.

     

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    A Major Cough-up – What’s next for quiz cheat Charles Ingram? ITV’s ‘Quiz’ has definitely left the public questioning the conviction of the ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ cheat Charles Ingram in 2003, but what happened to him in the intervening period is actually more fascinating.
    A Major Cough-up – What’s next for quiz cheat Charles Ingram? ITV’s ‘Quiz’ has definitely left the public questioning the conviction of the ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ cheat Charles Ingram in 2003, but what happened to him in the intervening period is actually more fascinating.
    A Major Cough-up – What’s next for quiz cheat Charles Ingram? ITV’s ‘Quiz’ has definitely left the public questioning the conviction of the ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ cheat Charles Ingram in 2003, but what happened to him in the intervening period is actually more fascinating.
  • Moron of the Moment – Lindsay Lohan

    Moron of the Moment – Lindsay Lohan

    Lindsay Lohan sinks to a new low during the coronavirus crisis and attempts to relaunch her tawdry self on April Fool’s Day; the washed-up wench claims to be “evolving”

    Loathsome leech Lindsay Lohan once curiously claimed she was a “normal, nice person, a good person” and that she “[didn’t] have any bad intentions.” She then proceeded to prove herself totally wrong in leaping to the defence of the now convicted sex abuser Harvey Weinstein in 2017.

     

    Jailed for 90 days in 2001 and put in rehab in 2008 (and on many other occasions since), this often violent, deranged, on-off druggie has now decided to revive her music ‘career’ at quite possibly the most inappropriate time – that being on April Fool’s Day during the coronavirus crisis. You simply couldn’t make it up, but, as we all know, ‘Loopy Lindsay’ can’t actually get a PR advisor for toffee.

     

    Some might argue that this move is reflective of this trashbag’s position in society, but that Lohan – whom the term “celebutard” was created in her very honour by Michael Musto some years back – issued a cryptic video on Instagram that ends with the wastrel weirdly stating: “I’m back!” about says it all. Frankly, the public will be the judge of that love and given past performance tends to be a guide to the future, we all already know where this almighty mess is going to end up next.

     

    Here we go again, Lindsay: Another car crash that’s headed to be washed away down the gutter. Next!

     

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    Moron of the Moment – Lindsay Lohan Washed-up wench Lindsay Lohan sinks to a new low during coronavirus crisis and attempts to relaunch her tawdry self on April Fool’s Day.
    A Twitter user aptly summed up Lindsay Lohan’s April Fool’s Day 2020 actions.
    Moron of the Moment – Lindsay Lohan Washed-up wench Lindsay Lohan sinks to a new low during coronavirus crisis and attempts to relaunch her tawdry self on April Fool’s Day.
    In her video message on Instagram, the self-absorbed mess showed a message that stated: “Evolution of Lindsay Lohan.”
  • The Talented Tinker

    The Talented Tinker

    Actor Dudley Sutton – AKA ‘Lovejoy’s’ Tinker – passes away aged 85 shortly after giving an interview lauding the NHS

     

    The talented actor and regular at the Chelsea Arts Club, Dudley Sutton sadly died yesterday after a short battle with cancer.

     

    Best known for playing Tinker Dill in the brilliant BBC comedy-drama series Lovejoy in 1986 and from 1991 to 1994, Sutton most recently took the lead role in a video for the Tom Chaplin song Midnight Mass and also appeared in everything from the first production of Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane in 1964 to Emmerdale and Eastenders.

     

    Speaking about Lovejoy and himself in general in 2017, Sutton commented:

     

    “It’s what they’re going to say on my obituary when I die, regardless of all the different and diverse stuff I’ve done throughout my life.”

     

    “It’s good fun because Lovejoy is so popular throughout the world, wherever you go. But people recognise Tinker, they don’t recognise Dudley Sutton.”

     

    The Talented Tinker – Actor Dudley Sutton (1933 – 2018) – Actor Dudley Sutton – AKA ‘Lovejoy’s’ Tinker – passes away aged 85 shortly after giving an interview lauding the NHS.
    Dudley Sutton (6th April 1933 – 15th September 2018)

     

    In July, Sutton gave a video interview from his bed in the Royal Trinity Hospice in Clapham in which he spoke about the NHS. He spoke of how he was a Socialist and lauded doctors and nurses for “caring about people, caring about folk, caring about people who can’t look after themselves” and said: “Don’t let the NHS go. Don’t flog it away with all the rest of the rubbish… That’s all I’m saying.”

     

    In a statement yesterday, Sutton’s family remarked:

     

    “Today we’re devastated by the loss of our beautiful Dudley, who leaves a gaping hole in all our lives.”

     

    “We’re grateful for the love expressed by friends and fans everywhere and for the extraordinary care he received at the Royal Trinity Hospice in Clapham, south London, where he went out fighting for our NHS.”

     

    To those  that encountered “this wonderfully disruptive cherub” at the Chelsea Arts Club and elsewhere, Dudley will be remembered for much more. This “neo-Wildean” actor and gent was charming, witty and fun and he added great colour to the lives of so many. May he rest in peace.

     

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu6PoFhTrVE

    The Talented Tinker – Actor Dudley Sutton (1933 – 2018) – Actor Dudley Sutton – AKA ‘Lovejoy’s’ Tinker – passes away aged 85 shortly after giving an interview lauding the NHS.

  • Haaz Sleiman – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    Haaz Sleiman – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    A 20-question interview with Lebanese-American actor Haaz Sleiman; he has starred in ‘24’, ‘ER’, ‘Killing Jesus’, ‘NCIS’, ‘Nurse Jackie’ and ‘Person of Interest’

     

    The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?

    Love.

     

    “Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

    “If you can’t love yourself, how the hell are you going to love somebody else?”

     

    Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2018?

    Who is she?

     

    Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

    Definitely not him. I hate politics. I’d say: My future husband. Where is he?

     

    What might you swap all your wealth for?

    To be adopted by Madonna.

     

    Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the state of the financial system?

    It is terrible. We have a vanishing middle class.

     

    What phrase or word do you most loathe?

    ‘Retard’.

     

    In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

    I support anything to do with homeless LGBTQ youth and animals.

     

    The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

    I’m sorry but I don’t understand the question.

     

    If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

    My parents and all my siblings with their families.

     

    Lebanese-American actor Haaz Sleiman – What’s on your mantelpiece? He has starred in ‘24’, ‘ER’, ‘Killing Jesus’, ‘NCIS’ and ‘Nurse Jackie’
    Haaz Sleiman as Jesus in the 2015 television film ‘Killing Jesus’

     

    If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

    In the most lush and exotic natural habitat with tonnes of trees and waterfalls or by the ocean. I’d have the best steak and fries with the most expensive bottle of red wine possible.

     

    What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

    I don’t drink much really.

     

    A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

    Tea.

     

    Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

    I enjoy concerts because I love seeing how music makes the people come together. Thank you Madonna.

     

    Who is the most positive person you know?

    E-Jay Randolph, my mentor.

     

    What’s your most guilty pleasure?

    RuPual’s Drag Race.

     

    If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

    A cross with a naked Jesus hanging on it wearing a Star of David pendant around his neck. Jesus would have a tattoo in Arabic on his left pec of the most important line in the Quran, the line that you would need to say to become Muslim. I am interested in inclusion.

     

    If you were a car, what marque would you be?

    A Tesla.

     

    Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

    I’m a baby in a grown ass man’s body. It’s a good thing.

     

    What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

    A framed picture of my beautiful mother.

     

    Haaz Sleiman is a Lebanese-American television and film actor. He starred as Jesus in the TV series ‘Killing Jesus’ and has also appeared in series such as ‘24’, ‘CSI: Miami’, ‘ER’, ‘NCIS’, ‘Nurse Jackie’ and ‘Person of Interest’. He describes himself as: “A lost soul finding its way back home.”

     

    Follow Haaz Sleiman on Twitter at @haazsleiman, on Facebook at @haazsleiman and on Instagram at @haazsleiman

     

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  • McMoneya

    McMoneya

    London has simply become a money park for dodgy money and though ‘McMafia’ reflected elements of that, the truth is far more depressing

     

    Since the 1st January, the nation was engrossed (though many were also totally bored) by the BBC’s eight-part drama series McMafia.

     

    Based on a fictional – though plainly inspired by the likes of the late Boris Berezovsky – Russian mafia family relocated to London, the TV adaptation of this thriller was filmed primarily in Knightsbridge, Mayfair and South Kensington. It showcased what many might consider the extreme wealth of Central London, but, in fact, was presented a little bit amateurishly.

     

    Of the show, Carol Midgley in The Times summed it up well. She remarked: “If this is how miserably the super-rich live, I’d take a semi in Swindon any day” and equally now, if you wander the streets of SW1, SW3, SW7 and W1, you’d not disagree with her.

     

    Recent news that the Fine Art Society is closing in Bond Street after 140 years due to “soaring rents” and “an influx of wealthy international fashion houses” illustrates the effect of the arrival of uncultivated new wealth in that sector, but equally sad is the demise of local restaurants and shops that actually provide things that genuine, full-time residents actually need.

     

    Boarded up in Belgravia this month, after 44 years in operation, the Ebury Wine Bar closed supposedly due to the retirement of its owner, Nigel Windridge. Also gone – aside from the key loss of the much loved La Brasserie in Brompton Cross – are restaurants like Itsu in Walton Street and Racine in Brompton Road. Replaced by shisha bars and other businesses aimed at wealthy Gulfies and oligarchs, the streets of Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea are increasingly becoming utterly devoid of character.

     

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  • Bernie Madoff – The Wizard of Lies

    Bernie Madoff – The Wizard of Lies

    TV drama film examining largest financial fraud ever by an individual set to air in May in America; ‘The Wizard of Lies’ examines the crimes of Bernard L. Madoff

     

    On 20th May, Americans will finally be able to watch director Barry Levinson’s take on the crimes of the Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff when The Wizard of Lies airs on HBO.

     

    Sentenced to 150 years for his £51.9 billion ($65 billion, €61.2 billion or درهم238.7 billion) crime, Madoff is played in the television drama film by Robert De Niro whilst Michelle Pfeiffer takes on the role of his wife, Ruth.

     

    Two trailers have recently been released to international audiences and we share the most recent below. A date for the drama’s release in the UK is still to be announced.

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=146&v=4G2carVhVJk

  • Jan Harvey

    Jan Harvey

    Penzance born actress Jan Harvey is married to her Howards’ Way co-star Stephen Yardley. She played Jan Howard in the popular series that depicted Thatcherite, nouveau riche excess from 1985 to 1990, has also appeared in Inspector Morse and Lovejoy and was pushed off a balcony to her death in Eastenders in 2016. In 2013, she suggested the wealthy yachting drama should be remade as “it could show all the problems of the young rich”.

     

    Jan Harvey – Actress and star of Howards’ Way with her husband Steven Yardley

  • Patricia Routledge CBE (born Katherine Patricia Routledge)

    Patricia Routledge CBE (born Katherine Patricia Routledge)

    British actress and singer Patricia Routledge CBE (born Katherine Patricia Routledge)Born in Tranmere, Merseyside, veteran actress Patricia Routledge is best known as Alan Bennett’s Irene Ruddock in Talking Heads: Lady of Letters and as Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. (more…)