Chris Packham: I hid badger under my bed

Chris Packham has revealed he once smuggled a badger into his house as a child and hid it under his bed to keep as a pet.

The Springwatch presenter and naturalist, who lives in Norfolk with his partner Charlotte and two poodles Itchy and Scratchy, revealed how his attempts to befriend the badger back fired.

Chris, 52, revealed: "We had a badger which I smuggled upstairs in my coat. I would wait until there was something my parents wanted to watch on TV and sneak upstairs. The badger went to sleep under my bed and everything went quiet then my dad came in and the badger completely kicked off.

"I had some Subbuteo stored under my bed and I remember my Man City team got completely trashed. Of course the badger was banished and my dad was like, 'Get that out of here!'"

Chris and co-presenter Michaela Strachan both use to work on children's wildlife series The Really Wild Show, and Chis hopes TV is still helping kids get discover nature.

He said: "Steve Backshall does a great job on CBBC. He's very popular with kids and he's flying a flag [for wildlife].

"I just hope the kids out there respond in the same way to him [as they did us], because you do meet people who say to you, 'I saw you do this thing to a cuttlefish once in The Really Wild Show and I thought it was so good I started studying them.

"Children buy the books but they don't engage with the animals. I'm not saying there's any diminishment of their enthusiasm but the contact isn't there. I remember taking grass snakes into school. I took a fox cub in once but nowadays they'd get the World Health Organisation on it. They'd think the fox would eat the kid and the grass snake was toxic." (Source)

James D'Arcy excited about new crime show

James D'Arcy has revealed he is excited about being part of new crime show Those Who Kill.

The Cloud Atlas star has signed up to star alongside Chloe Sevigny in the adaptation of the Danish series and thinks it promises to be something very different.

James said: "I did a pilot and we're going to shoot the rest of the series at the end of this year. I play a forensic psychologist.

"It feels like a crime drama but I think it's going to be a bit more of an explanation of insanity.

"It's based on a Danish show but I think we're going to deviate quite quickly away from it, because theirs was 90 minute stand alone episodes, always catch the show every week, and our show's not going to be that.

"I don't quite know what it is yet but I'm really excited to find out."

The British actor thinks the cable show will be more interesting than mainstream crime series like CSI.

He said: "I think cable is where all the interesting writing is being done. All the shows I like, Breaking Bad, Homeland, Mad Men, Walking Dead, Game Of Thrones - that's all being done on cable.

"CSI is a very straightforward crime show, but I don't think that's what cable even wants to do, it's not as interesting. On cable they really try to push things and do something daring." (Source)

Dr Karl recorded Neighbours theme

Neighbours star Alan Fletcher recorded a swing version of the soap's theme tune that didn't make the cut to be used on the show.

The actor who has played Dr Karl Kennedy for almost 20 years went into the studio for one of three versions of the Aussie soap's famous theme tune which was recently revamped.

Alan said: "There were three different possibilities and I recorded one of them, which didn't become the final choice. It was more of a sort of swing version. It's really jolly."

He is a keen musician as part of on-screen Neighbours band The Right Prescription and in his own real-life band Waiting Room.

Alan has done a few UK university tours with Waiting Room but says he won't be doing another one until next year as he is doing panto this year instead, playing The Sherriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood.

He said: "It's certainly a joyous thing to do, it's one of the great offshoots of doing Neighbours to be able to get out and do music as well." (Source)

Gary Lucy makes splash in Walford

Danny Pennant makes a splash on his return to EastEnders - when Lauren Branning spills a drink all over him at Ian Beale's restaurant opening.

Footballers Wives star Gary Lucy made a guest appearance in the soap last year as wheeler dealer Danny, and returns to Walford next month with Ian (Adam Woodyatt) hoping he will invest in his latest business venture, so he can buy out Janine Moon (Charlie Brooks).

But Ian's opeing night goes from bad to worse.

First when everyone goes outside for the new sign unveiling, Ian is shocked to find Janine has changed the name of the restaurant from Ian Beale @ Le Square to Scarlett's.

Then waitress Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) - who is secretly battling alcoholism - turns up to work drunk and spills drinks over potential business partner Danny.

To top it off, Danny says his business is in finding investors for property and that he won't be recommending putting funds into the restaurant to anyone.

The restaurant opening scene airs on BBC One on Friday June 7. (Source)

Paula Lane: I hate Kylie's baby bump

Coronation Street's Paula Lane has admitted she hates wearing her fake baby bump.

The actress who plays Kylie Platt in the ITV soap said the bump for her pregnant character even gives her a rash.

She said: "It's a nightmare, I absolutely hate the bump.

"I keep having to be remeasured for different ones because it's getting bigger and bigger. I think I've just been measured for my eight month one. I don't think I could get any bigger but they're going, 'Oh, but you're so lovely and petite and this is what it'd be like'.

"It itches me, I go home with a rash on my tummy. I'm not in a hurry to get one of them in real life, anyway."

Paula, 27, did say she was looking forward to the birth scenes and will be helped by her midwife mum to get a realistic effect.

She said: "I'm quite looking forward to that but it's a bit daunting at the same time filming a labour scene. But I'll try my best.

"My mum's a midwife so I can only get good tips from her." (Source)

Mexico's Amat Escalante wins Cannes best director

Mexico's Amat Escalante on Sunday won the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his ultra-violent film "Heli" about his country's blood-drenched drug wars.

The 34-year-old director, who was forced onto the defensive after the violence left some members of the audience uneasy, paid tribute to this year's Cannes jury headed by Steven Spielberg.

"This earthquake, I wasn't expecting this! Thank you to this brave jury... to Mexico, I hope we never get used to suffering... " he said.

"Heli" tells the story of a family caught up in gangland battles in an unnamed desert region of contemporary Mexico and contains protracted torture scenes.

In one scene, a character sets the genitals of a suspected cocaine thief ablaze.

Escalante reacted to criticism of the film by calling it an accurate depiction of the situation in underworld crime-blighted Mexico.

And he dismissed critical questions about upsetting audiences.

"What's the point of not showing the violence just so the audience can go through the story and not suffer so much when actually that's not how violence is in real life?" he asked reporters.

"I think I'm curious about sex and death and violence, and so that's all in the film," added Escalante, whose last picture "Los Bastardos", set among the Mexican community in Los Angeles, played in Cannes' Un Certain Regard section in 2008.

"Heli" features amateur actors, telling the story of a police cadet who falls for the 12-year-old sister of a factory worker named Heli (Armando Espitia).

Film industry bible Variety called "Heli" "an accomplished but singularly unpleasant immersion" in the drug wars and noted that it was the most "explicit, realistically violent film" in the Cannes competition in several years.

However Robbie Collin, a reviewer for London's Daily Telegraph, said: "Even a bleak existence can make an uplifting story."

"Heli may be the most optimistic film you will ever see in which one young man sets another's genitals on fire," he wrote. (Source)

Emma Willis's 14 year BB apprenticeship

Emma Willis has said she feels like she has spent 14 years training for her new job as host of Big Brother.

The Big Brother's Bit On The Side presenter has been promoted to the main show this year and told OK! she thought she knew everything about the reality series.

She said: "For 14 years it's all I've talked about and watched, so I feel like my apprenticeship is over. Fourteen years is a long time and hopefully now I can step up to the plate and do a good job."

Emma, 37, admitted it was a bit daunting to be put in charge of a show she loves so much.

"I do know quite a lot about Big Brother, yeah - everything actually. Someone has given me my dream job - someone has given me the job of fronting my favourite show in the world ever and I've got to be good."

She also revealed she was looking forward to the main Big Brother series more than the celebrity version.

"I like the normal one because you judge somebody instantly. In a three-minute VT and entrance you've judged them and you think you know them and then they go into the house and they are totally different.

"Whereas with the celebrity one, you think you know them, you have a perception of them, you already have that judgment, yet they go in there and they show you who they really are."

Big Brother is back on Channel 5 in June. (Source)

Jessica Hynes' hopes for suffragette sitcom

Jessica Hynes has said she hopes her new sitcom about Suffragettes will inform viewers about their history.

The Twenty Twelve actress has written and is starring in Up The Women, a BBC Four comedy set in 1910.

She told the Radio Times: "It's our history and it's empowering, and yet we're detached from it, and that's wrong.

"You get young girls saying, 'Didn't Parliament want to talk to them, and then they started doing all that militant stuff, and it was bad, and they didn't behave themselves, did they?' No. That's not what happened."

The sitcom, which also stars The Thick Of It's Rebecca Front, started out as a comedy film Jessica was going to write for the BBC about a suffragette plot to kill Prime Minister Asquith.

Jessica, who wrote and starred in Spaced with Simon Pegg, said she changed her mind after researching the subject more.

She said: "I started to realise how dark it was, reading all these lists of women who were beaten up and killed.

"You think of Emily Davison as the only martyr, but it was all quite serious. It was no longer Carry On Up The Suffrage. I was crying into my tea."

Up The Women begins on BBC Four on Thursday May 30. (Source)

Miranda Kerr: Orlando is spiritual

Miranda Kerr says her husband Orlando Bloom is an “honourable and spiritual” man.

The model has been married to the Hollywood hunk for three years and has discussed how they have matured and evolved together as a couple.

Orlando himself has previously credited the Australian beauty for helping him to find “himself”.

“We’ve grown together,” the 30-year-old model told British magazine Look. “He’s an honourable, spiritual man. I think that’s influenced me in a positive way.”

In 2011, the former Victoria’s Secret Angel gave birth to the couple’s first child, Flynn.

Miranda is known to be a big fan of yoga and Pilates and also likes to lark about with her toddler son to keep fit.

“I exercise every day - be it yoga, hiking, Pilates or resistance training,” she said. “I’ve been practising yoga for over ten years and my son often holds on to me like a koala. Flynn loves to dance, so I dance with him, too.”

The model also explained how she manages to stay in such fantastic shape.

Known for her love of organic food and cooking, the star tries to keep a balanced diet instead of depriving herself.

“I actually studied nutrition and I’m a certified health coach, so I’m very passionate about that. But life is not about depriving yourself,” she said. “I believe in the 80/20 rule – 80 per cent healthy and 20 per cent indulgent. So if I want a piece of chocolate, I’ll have one. I just won’t eat the whole block.” (Source)

Dwayne Johnson: Surgeon cleared hardcore workouts

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is back in the gym after hernia surgery.

The wrestler-turned-Hollywood star had to undergo the emergency procedure on April 22 after suffering three hernia tears during a wrestling match.

The injury meant he was forced to halt all workouts and watch his hulking physique deflate.

But Dwayne took to Twitter on Saturday to tell fans he’s beefing back up after getting the all-clear.

“Surgeon cleared me to dial up intensity 100% w/ training. Just crushed high volume leg day. #QuadsABurnin,” he wrote.

The actor included a black-and-white photo of himself in the gym.

Dwayne wears a pair of headphones, hoodie and sticks his tongue out in the image, making it clear he’s amped to get back into hardcore training.

The actor is having a great week. His latest movie Fast & Furious 6 has stormed the box-office since its US release. The film is projected for a $119.3 million debut this weekend.

“You've made FAST 6 Universal's biggest box office opening of all time. #HobbsTheBeast sends you his love..,” he tweeted Friday.

The performance as federal agent Hobbs was not without thanks.

Dwayne later logged back on to say studio bosses have been heaping praise on him. He also treated fans to another photo of his muscled physique. (Source)

Hollywood veteran Bruce Dern wins Cannes best actor

One of the stars of Hollywood's 1970s golden age, Bruce Dern, won the best actor prize Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance in Alexander Payne's "Nebraska".

In the recession-era road movie, the 76-year-old Dern plays an alcoholic father who believes he has won a million-dollar sweepstake.

Dern has enjoyed a long career playing villains and psychos which earned him honours early on, although he struggled to escape being typecast.

The 76-year-old, father of Laura Dern, began acting in the 1960s, appeared in the 1974 version of "The Great Gatsby" with Robert Redford, and played a baddie in last year's Quentin Tarantino bloodfest "Django Unchained."

Payne's black and white movie set in a crisis-ravaged American Mid-West, sees Dern's character, Korean veteran Woody, take a road trip with his long suffering son David from their home in Montana to his father's Native Nebraska to claim his purported million-dollar winnings.

The film was one of several screened this year featuring performances by stars from Hollywood's 1970s golden age including Michael Douglas and Robert Redford.

Born in Chicago in 1936, Dern started out on television before breaking onto the big screen in roles including westerns with John Wayne, whom he shot dead in 1972's "The Cowboys," the only actor to kill the Duke onscreen.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe in "The Great Gatsby," and an Oscar and a Golden Globe for 1978's "Coming Home," and won a Silver Bear in Berlin for "The Championship Season," but rarely took home the top prizes.

Critics say Dern, a close friend of Jack Nicholson, struggled to escape casting directors' assumptions of what he could play.

"I've played more psychotics and freaks and dopers than anyone," he once said. "Because I'm the only actor who ever killed John Wayne in a picture, producers have pegged me for a villain."

The actor, who was not at the ceremony on the French Riviera to accept his award, has been married three times, including to actress Diane Ladd with whom he had two children.

The first daughter died at 18 months. Laura Dern, born in 1967, went on to star in "Wild at Heart" in 1990 and "Jurassic Park" in 1993. (Source)

Battle heats up for BGT title

The battle to be crowned the winner of Britain's Got Talent 2013 began in earnest as the names were confirmed for the semi-finals.

Just 45 acts remain from the thousands who applied and the hundreds who auditioned and they will battle it out for the prize of £250,000 and a spot at the Royal Variety Performance.

Hungarian shadow dance troupe Attraction is the early bookies' favourites, 2-1 at Ladbrokes and 7-4 at William Hill. The nine-piece wowed the judges in the first heat broadcast last month when Amanda Holden described them as "one of the most moving acts I have seen in seven years".

Another act tipped to do well is British Cypriot soprano Aliki Chrysochou. The 29-year-old was diagnosed with a brain disorder, focal encephalitis, while at university and lost all co-ordination of speech and movement.

Aided by her mother she used singing to aid her recovery and has been performing and teaching music ever since. She impressed the judges with an emotional performance of Bring Me To Life by Evanescence. She received four "yeses" and nearly brought the judges to tears with the significance of the lyrics to her story.

Northern Irish teenager Jordan O'Keefe is also highly rated. The 18-year-old from Londonderry impressed the judges with his acoustic performance of One Direction's Little Things.

Welsh operatic brothers Richard and Adam Johnson will be hoping to add fans to stand alongside their nan, who is their number one fan.

And Band Of Voices, a group made from seasoned backing singers, are hoping for their moment in centre stage after wowing the judges with their rendition of Jessie J's Price Tag and the national anthem.

One of the last to go through was one of the youngest.

Gabrielle "Gabz" Gardiner, a 14-year-old singer and multi-instrumentalist from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, got the judges singing along with her when she performed an original song, The One, at the audition. (Source)