No stranger to badmouthing fellow actors of late, I hear Brian Cox’s comments have been displeasing German-born wife Nicole. With the veteran thespian having publicly criticised the acting styles of everyone from Daniel-Day Lewis and Succession co-star Jeremy Strong, to Sir Michael Caine and Johnny Depp, I'm told: "Nicole would really prefer Brian not to be so outspoken about others in the business. She's told him to be more careful in interviews. Not that it means he'll listen."
Married for 25 years, the couple’s domestic arrangements have raised eyebrows since it emerged they prefer to live in separate properties in London’s Primrose Hill.
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Duetting with fellow Beatle Sir Paul McCartney on new ditty Home To Us, a nostalgic number about Liverpool, Sir Ringo Starr’s relationship with the city has proved problematic. LA-based Ringo memorably met with a Liverpudlian backlash in 2008 after suggesting he missed nothing about his birthplace during a BBC interview.
All forgotten now?
Almost 30 years since the opening of Shakespeare’s Globe on London’s South Bank, a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre originally staging the playwright’s works in the 17th century, Sir Ian McKellen remains unimpressed.
While originally involved in fundraising for the theatre, the legendary thespian criticises “obtrusive columns that restrict sightlines from the stage” and unflatteringly refers to the building as “the so-called Shakespeare’s Globe”.
Reflecting on life in her nineties, Dame Sheila Hancock playfully announces: “When you get to 93 and can walk across a stage without falling over the scenery, and manage to spout a bit of old rubbish, you are deemed a miracle.”
Considered by many to perform the finest impression of Sir Keir Starmer, comedian and former Labour aide Matt Forde says of the PM's vocal traits: "The staccato-nasal, the sort of trailing off. You have to get both of those things.”
At least someone will miss Keir when he’s gone...
These days best known as the grumpy father of comedian Jack Whitehall, retired theatrical agent Michael Whitehall recalls romancing English rose actress Lynne Frederick in the 1970s.
“She was very pretty and very keen to get married. I said, ‘I'm not ready to get married and I'm your agent,’” Michael explains. Lynne, who died aged just 39 in 1994, instead tied the knot with Peter Sellers and subsequently Sir David Frost - the latter marriage lasting barely a year.
Remembering one encounter with Frost, Whitehall mischievously adds: "He said, ‘Michael, I gather we have something in common? But I married her and you didn't.’ There was a pause and he said, ‘That was a dreadful mistake!’”
Required to grow that now famous moustache for the role of millionaire Freddie Jones in Rivals, Danny Dyer groans: “I just want to see my top lip again. My grandchildren only know me as a moustache man and that depresses me slightly.”
Danny's pinning hopes on his 80's-style tache coming off when the hit show finally reaches the 1990s.
