Comedian Russell Howard has announced that he has quit TV after almost two decades on our screens.
The 44-year-old Brit is best known for presenting Russell Howard’s Good News (2009-2015), The Russell Howard Hour (2017-2022), and for being a panellist on Mock the Week (2006-2010).
He was known for his satirical humour around politics, which was geared towards young adults, on his TV shows.
After spending years split across BBC, Sky and even Comedy Central, it sounds like Howard is done with presenting for good.
Russell Howard has been a prominent figure on British TV for almost two decades (BBC)
After 19 successful years, Howard has admitted that he actually prefers doing stand-up comedy instead of structured television, as well as hosting his podcasts, Five Brilliant Things and GoalLess.
Having presented Good News on the BBC for 10 series, followed by six series of The Russell Howard Hour after that, the comedian opened up on his decision to step back from filming.
Speaking on the Have A Word Podcast, Howard explained: “I don’t do TV anymore, I just do stand-up and my podcast.
“I had a pretty good run, I just prefer doing stand-up. I was all over the world and it was just fun.”
Further highlighting how much he loves stand-up, Howard said that there’s ‘nothing else he would rather do’ than touring his own comedy set across the UK.
He added: “TV is fun but it’s not as fun. Writing a book I couldn’t do because I don’t want to sit and entertain myself but doing stand-up is what I love doing.”
Howard then went to compare comedy to a courtroom, explaining: “It’s not entertainment for committee, it’s your dictatorship… The audience are like this brilliant jury that let you know through laughter whether it works or not.”
Howard confirmed that his time on TV is over (YouTube/Have A Word Pod)
Another reason that may have encouraged Howard to call time on his TV career is the fact that he became a father last year.
In August, the comic announced that he and his wife, Cerys Morgan, became parents.
After 15 years together, the pair made it official in the summer of 2019 and he explained how his life changed in a 2024 interview with The Times.
“Six months ago my evenings would have been spent getting ready to go out and perform in front of a thousand people, but now evenings find me sitting on the sofa watching TV with my son on my chest,” Howard said.
“I’m tired a lot. It’s funny, when you become a parent everybody compliments you on your baby, but they will freely turn to you and say that you look like s**t, that your face should be on a government watch list or something.”
He concluded by saying that he sleeps when he can, as with a child, he ‘needs it’.
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Gregg Wallace is set to step away from MasterChef due to an investigation.
Wallace was a co-presenter on the cooking show for 19 years.
Masterchef’s producer Banijay released the following statement: “This week the BBC received complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with presenter Gregg Wallace on one of our shows.
“Whilst these complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate.
Wallace was well known for his time on Masterchef (Dave Bennett via Getty Images)
“While this review is underway, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully cooperating throughout the process.
“Banijay UK’s duty of care to staff is always a priority and our expectations regarding behaviour are made clear to both cast and crew on all productions, with multiple ways of raising concerns, including anonymously, clearly promoted on set.
“Whilst these are historical allegations, incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not met, are thoroughly investigated and addressed appropriately.”
The statement added: “If anyone would like to talk to us or raise any issues or concerns, then they can contact speakup@banijayuk.com in confidence.”
Wallace will step back from presenting duties (David M Benett via Getty Images)
A BBC spokesperson told PA: “We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them.
“We are always clear that any behaviour which falls below the standards expected by the BBC will not be tolerated.
“Where an individual is contracted directly by an external production company we share any complaints or concerns with that company and we will always support them when addressing them.”
Last month Wallace responded to an investigation by the BBC which found he could continue to work for the company after an alleged incident in 2018 on Impossible Celebrities.
At the time he said: “The story that’s hitting the newspapers was investigated promptly when it happened six years ago by the BBC.
“The outcome of that was that I hadn’t said anything sexual. I’ll need to repeat this again. I didn’t say anything sexual.”
Wallace has presented food-based TV shows for over 20 years, first appearing as a host on Saturday Kitchen in 2002.
He has been the co-presenter of MasterChef since 2005 alongside John Torode.
LADbible Group has contacted representatives for Gregg Wallace for comment.
Gregg Wallace has released a video statement after it was announced he was stepping away from MasterChef after 19 years due to an investigation into allegations of misconduct.
Earlier today (28 November) it was announced that Wallace, 60, would be stepping away from the BBC cooking programme.
MasterChef’s producer Banijay released the following statement: “This week the BBC received complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with presenter Gregg Wallace on one of our shows.
“Whilst these complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate.
“While this review is underway, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully cooperating throughout the process.
Gregg has stepped back from his presenting role (Andrew Matthews – Pool/Getty Images)
“Banijay UK’s duty of care to staff is always a priority and our expectations regarding behaviour are made clear to both cast and crew on all productions, with multiple ways of raising concerns, including anonymously, clearly promoted on set.
“Whilst these are historical allegations, incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not met, are thoroughly investigated and addressed appropriately.”
The statement added: “If anyone would like to talk to us or raise any issues or concerns, then they can contact speakup@banijayuk.com in confidence.”
Now, Wallace his broken his silence on the matter. Speaking in an Instagram video tonight, he said: “I would like to thank all the people getting in touch, reaching out and showing their support.
He has since spoken out in an Instagram video (greggawallace/Instagram)
“That’s good of you. Thank you very much.”
The BBC has since confirmed that 13 individuals, including broadcaster Kirsty Wark, have made allegations against Wallace.
Following the news, singer Rod Stewart laid into Wallace on Instagram in a brutal statement in which he accused the presenter of being a bully.
Sharing his statement via a black-and-white text post, he wrote: “So Greg [sic] Wallace gets fired from Master Chef.
“Good riddance Wallace… You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out didn’t you?
“You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got ya. Sir Rod Stewart.”
Lancaster had participated on season 16 of Celebrity MasterChef in 2021 and made it to the quarter final of the show before being knocked out of the comp.
LADbible has reached out to Greg Wallace, Banjay UK and the BBC for comment.
Outnumbered actress Ramona Marquez has hit out at claims that she was a cash-strapped student who sold her old underwear online.
The London-born actress, who played the hilarious Karen Brockman in the hit BBC show, said she couldn’t believe that the ‘crazy’ rumour was plastered in the tabloids.
In a new interview, she explained how her innocent side hustle ended up getting completely blown out of proportion because of a sports bra.
For the first time in eight years, the Brockman family will finally be back on our TV screens this Christmas for a one-off festive special which will air on 26 December.
Pete (Hugh Dennis) and Sue’s (Claire Skinner) eccentric offspring are all grown up these days, so Brits should brace themselves to see the adorable trio in adult size.
Marquez and her on-screen siblings – Daniel Roche and Tyger Drew-Honey – have navigated their adolescence in the spotlight since shooting to fame in 2007.
“I’ve never known any different,” Marquez told The Independent. “I was so young. I hear about other instances in TV where young kids were exploited, and I feel lucky that we were always respected.”
Although she has nothing but good things to say about the cast and crew on Outnumbered, Marquez doesn’t share the same sentiment when it comes to the media.
Ramona Marquez was just five-years-old when she began starring as Karen Brockman (BBC)
The 23-year-old began hitting the headlines again after she debuted a bold new look, which was a stark contrast to how people remembered her from the show.
For the most part, Marquez is unfazed by things printed in the papers about her – unless it involves claims that she’s flogging old underwear online.
In 2021, several UK news outlets began reporting that Marquez was ‘selling off her old bras’ for as little as £4.
“I sold a sports bra,” she recalled. “It wasn’t even mine. I’d never even seen it before. It just must have been my sister’s or something, who knows – and then it was in the news.
“And it was such a misrepresentation. It was just a crazy, crazy thing to write.”
Although she was technically selling an old sports bra online, the situation was somewhat misconstrued.
Basically, in 2021 Marquez had set up a Depop account while she was attending university in Manchester to study Spanish and Mandarin.
The actress, pictured with her on-screen siblings in 2023, set the record straight about the underwear saga (Instagram/@__princess__mo__)
She listed hundreds of items for sale, including dresses, jumpers, skirts… and a sports bra.
As a result, various reports stated that the Outnumbered star had been forced to start selling her old clobber to fund her lifestyle after quitting acting.
Looking back on the underwear saga, Marquez said: “It was so out there that even the readers were commenting, saying, ‘I read the story and she’s sold like 500 things on Depop. You’re portraying that to be something quite sinister’.
“You sometimes think, well, you know, I could be doing that. There’d be nothing wrong with that if I wanted to, but I’m actually not, so let’s just keep the facts straight.”
Now that she has finished her studies, Marquez revealed she has been eyeing up a return to the acting world, as she ‘loves’ immersing herself in roles.
“It is my complete passion and ambition,” she said. “But I’ve been doing other stuff on the side, such as learning to tattoo, because obviously for an actor, there can be big periods between jobs.”
The actor who played Smithy’s fiancée in the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey has apologised after having to play the role of the villain.
The BBC was King of the Christmas Day broadcasting battle, cheerfully stomping ITV‘s offerings into festive paste in the ratings thanks to a roster that included the new Wallace and Gromit film and the last ever offering of Gavin and Stacey.
About 12.3 million people tuned in to watch the finale to a show that started all the way back in 2007 and had last given us an episode in 2019.
The BBC says the grand finale brought in the biggest TV audience for 16 years, the last time more Brits were all watching something at Christmas was in 2008 when Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death was on our screens.
With so many people wanting to see Nessa (Ruth Jones) and Smithy (James Corden) get together after she proposed at the end of the previous Christmas special, woe betide the poor soul who stood in their way.
That would be Sonia (Laura Aikman), who was all set to marry Smithy in the final ever Gavin and Stacey despite it being painfully clear that she just wasn’t a good fit for him.
It seems like even Sonia’s actor wanted her character to get out of the way so Smithy and Nessa could get together (BBC)
It turns out that even Sonia’s actor seemed not to be rooting for her, as Aikman posted an apology in her Instagram Stories as she reacted to the final episode, writing: “Many apologies for my behaviour… x”
She also shared posts of people calling her ‘everyone’s favourite Christmas Day villain’, and said that her family got to see Sonia ‘ruining Christmas again’ and enjoyed a meme joking that Sonia and not Feathers McGraw was ‘the nastiest villain on telly this Christmas’.
Fortunately, Laura seems to know very well that her character was set up to be the villain of the piece by being in the way of Smithy and Nessa finally getting together, and it didn’t help that she ended up being quite the Bridezilla.
Throughout the final episode of Gavin and Stacey, it was made very clear that she wasn’t a good fit with Smithy’s nearest and dearest, and breaking up that wonderful bunch was never going to be the happy ending we were all hoping for.
She knows she way playing the bad guy. (Instagram/@lauraikman)
In fairness, there was one moment from the finale where viewers did feel sorry for Sonia as on her hen party, our usual favourites hired her a stripper, a move which went down horribly and left lots who were watching thinking that in this one case she was in the right.
Plus without Sonia, Smithy and Nessa would probably be together already and we wouldn’t have got the marvellous final episode.
It took a lot of subterfuge and secrecy to avoid giving away Sonia’s involvement, which would have made it clear that Smithy had said no to Nessa before the episode even aired, as Aikman had also said she took the NDA ‘very seriously’.
The crew were able to keep the secret by booking Laura into a different hotel to the rest of the crew, with director Christine Gernon saying the actor was ‘not allowed to come to wrap or screening parties’ just to make sure her participation was under wraps.
At this point we’d say we hope the viewers remember that Sonia is a character and avoid pouring scorn on her actor, but you know how some fans can struggle with the easy task of separating the two.
