Lenny Rush, the Bafta-winning child actor, is set to make history as the first child presenter of the BBC’s charity fundraiser for Children in Need on Friday night. Rush, 14, who has a form of dwarfism known as Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia congenita (Harry Potter actor Warwick Davis has the same condition), started off his acting career with a number of appearances in children’s television, including CBeebies series Apple Tree House and CBBC’s Dodger and The Dumping Ground – the latter of which is an expansion of the Tracy Beaker franchise. He's also worked on a few productions by writer Jack Thorne, including on his retelling of A Christmas Carol at London’s Old Vic Theatre and his BBC series Best Interests. Rush is an award winner, too, having won the gong for best male comedy performance in Daisy May Cooper’s Am I Being Unreasonable?. As for future roles, he’s set to appear alongside 15th Doctor and Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa in the next series of Doctor Who, playing the character of Morris once David Tennant’s 60th anniversary specials are out of the way. Speaking of Doctor Who, a special ‘minisode’ of the fantasy series will air during Friday’s TV event, starring Tennant who has returned to the fan favourite programme as the Fourteenth Doctor. Rush will co-present Children in Need alongside sports personalities Ade Adepitan and Alex Scott, and comedians Mel Giedroyc, Jason Manford and Chris Ramsey. The teenager said of the presenting role: “It’s an honour and a thrill to be the first child presenter for Children in Need. I can’t wait to feel the buzz of a live show and to help raise money for children and young people across the UK facing disadvantages. “I’m so excited.” Children in Need will be broadcast live from Salford and gets underway from 7pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Movie fans have just realised there's a huge blunder in James Cameron's The Abyss, and once you see it, you can't unsee it. In a clip posted to Twitter, a huge tidal wave is heading towards the beach, however, while most people are running away, one guy in the corner is using his impending doom as a chance to pull his friend's swimming trunks down one last time. In the theatrical release, the scene was reportedly cropped so you could only see the motion from the tops of their heads. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Friends fans think they've found the original clip that inspired Matt LeBlanc's tribute to Matthew Perry with the actor joking that he still owed him 'twenty bucks'. In an episode titled The One With the Kips, which first aired on 29 October, 1998, Monica makes up that Chandler has stolen $20 from her purse to cover up their secret fling. "You know what, now that I think about it, I constantly find myself without twenties, and you always have lots", Joey chimes in, thinking her rouse is genuine. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Netflix’s 'The Crown'—a royal family drama, and one of the most expensive TV shows ever made—is coming to an end.

It’s not even been released yet, but the fallout from the Madame Web trailer just goes to show that nothing is ever safe from internet meme culture. The clip from the upcoming Sony superhero movie gives fans a flavour of Dakota Johnson’s debut as she plays character Cassandra Webb for the first time. There’s a lot to take in, with a host of new stars and exciting stunts showcased in the clip, but one particular line of dialogue has made the biggest impression so far. And what’s the line? Well, it’s a line about a mysterious male character familiar to Johnson’s character. “He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.” Admittedly, it’s delivered in a slightly stunted way, and fans have really cottoned onto it in the hours since the trailer was released. Pretty soon, the internet was having a field day with the whole thing. Fans will have to wait until the film is released on February 16 until they can find any more meme-worthy lines of dialogue. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

From ‘The Sopranos’ to ‘It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia,’ these TV shows capture all the things you love (or hate) about Thanksgiving.

Miriam Margolyes is widely considered to be a national treasure, so no doubt fans would love to see her on popular TV shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! But you won't catch the Harry Potter actor on those programmes as the famously outspoken Margolyes explains why she has knocked back these opportunities. During an appearance as a guest on Waitrose’s Dish podcast to promote her new memoir Oh Miriam: Stories from an Extraordinary Life, the 82-year-old admitted she agreed to the book because "they offered me a lot of money." "That’s true, that’s absolutely true,” she said. “When you’re old and you know that your earning potential is diminishing, you’ve got to get the money while you can.” Margolyes added: "I won’t do that, what do you call it? The dancing thing..." She was referring to BBC's popular dance show Strictly Come Dancing, and was asked by co-presenter Angela Hartnett if she's ever been asked to join the lineup. "Yeah, they must have been f***ing nuts," Margolyes replied and also revealed that she had been offered to go on I'm a Celebrity as well but similarly turned it down. “And they asked me to go in the jungle,” she said, causing co-host Nick Grimshaw to ask: “Was that a hard no?” “I’ve got class, love,” Margolyes said. “I’m not doing that.” It's not the first time Margolyes has said she's declined to go into the Australian jungle, as she shared her candid views on The Graham Norton Show. “Are you kidding? I’m not a whore!" she replied bluntly when asked by Norton if she's considered ever going on the ITV show. While Margolyes may not go on these shows, she has made iconic appearances on daytime shows such as This Morning. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

It’s the biggest story in the gaming world, and now there’s been more detail reportedly leaked about Grand Theft Auto 6. Developers Rockstar put fans on high alert recently after announcing the release of a new trailer, due later this year. While it’s yet to be confirmed, there’s more info been rumoured about the highly-anticipated game, some of which represents a first for the series. We already know that reports suggest the new game will include a playable female character for the first time in the game franchise since the release of Grand Theft Auto III. Now, it’s also been reported that it will feature a young child character for the first time. Previous reports claimed that the game is said to feature two bank robbers as playable main characters, a man and a woman, who have a Bonnie and Clyde-like relationship. According to RockstarUniverse, the female protagonist, named Lucia, will have a child who features in cutscenes – the first time the series will feature a young child in the storyline. Details have still yet to emerge about the new game, but one thing we do know is Rockstar have a big job on their hands if they want to match the success of Grand Theft Auto V. The fifth instalment of the hugely popular video game series was released in 2013 and went on to sell 185 million copies. There is plenty of speculation about the new game. According to a report in Bloomberg, the series will return to Vice City, the setting for iconic 00s game GTA Vice City based on Miami, for the new instalment. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Big Brother's Trish Balusa has given us her first media interview since being evicted from the Big Brother house - and she's addressing the tweet scandal that has rocked her reputation since leaving. Fans who has supported the outspoken, left-wing, self-confessed feminist were left gobsmacked to discover the nature of her posts from the past, perpetuating homophobia and racism through the lens of someone entirely different to who we'd seen on screen. "You know, I was so shocked", she said of the moment she found out the tweets had been pulled up, despite an independent company allegedly doing digital background checks on all of the contestants before they entered the house. "I think for the first time, I looked in the mirror and I saw in myself, the people that I criticise and the things that I stand against." The mum-of-one has since put out a written apology online, and surprisingly, most people have been forgiving, likely due to her switched-on political compass while under the watchful eye of Big Brother. "You express a view [online] and then you're done you move on from it, and then maybe you learn, you change, challenge yourself, you gain different experiences," she notes. "You don't get to go back and elaborate on that view. You don't get to go back and say: 'actually, according to my experiences now or the people I've learned that people have educated me, this is what I think now'". "I love the support, I love that people can give me grace. But I also get that there are some people who this is still very new to them." She adds: "I do want to remind people that I couldn't fake who I wasn't big brother for that long." Trish has since vowed to have honest conversations with the friends she made in the house who will undoubtably be affected by her words, including Yinrun, Jordan, Henry, and Matty - all of which she would love to remain friends with on the outside. Notably, however, she candidly opened up on the impact the revelations had on her brother, who is transgender. "I was really apologetic, I was like: 'I've let you down because we've come so far through this journey' and I have to look back at that person, someone that's very close to me, someone that's in a community, they're going to have to look at that", she says. "This is a conversation I'm going to have to have with a lot of people who are in those marginalised group that are hurt by the comments that I had made in the past. "Hopefully, I could rely on the fact that they know my heart. They know who I am." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

*Warning: Contains potential spoilers for The Iron Claw* The Iron Claw is one of the most hyped films of 2023, but the upcoming wrestling biopic starring Zac Efron is far from your typical, glossy sports movie. In fact, the real-life story of the people it’s based on is one of the darkest in the world of sport, and fans can expect the movie to draw on a real life story full of family tragedy. The upcoming movie, directed by Sean Durkin and released on December 22, focuses on the Von Erich wrestling family and their lives in and away from the ring. The Iron Claw boasts an impressive cast, with Efron joined by the likes of Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickson and Lily James, who will all be telling the family’s story. We can’t be sure exactly what the movie will focus on, but the family is synonymous with the US wrestling scene in the second half of the 20th century. The Von Erich family achieved great success while also experiencing a great deal of tragedy, with the majority of the family members dying young. Parents Fritz and Doris had six sons together but lost one son at a very young age after he was electrocuted and drowned at six-years-old. Fritz was a successful wrestler in his time, and his five sons Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike and Chris followed into the industry and became professional wrestlers too. Fritz and his sons famously helped to popularise the iron claw wrestling hold, which the film is named after. After achieving success, the family experienced more heartbreak. In fact, only Kevin – played by Efron – survived into later life. Kerry, played by Allen White, became well known under the persona “The Texas Tornado” which he competed as in WWE, where he won the Intercontinental Championship. He suffered a motorcycle accident which saw his right foot amputated in his 20s, before he killed himself at the age of 33 in 1993. David, played by Dickson, died at the age of 25. His official cause of death was acute enteritis, but there are some who believe he suffered a drug overdose that was covered up. Mike also died young at the age of just 23 after overdosing on tranquillisers. It’s expected that the film will focus on the family’s tragic story, as well as Kevin’s marriage to Pamela May, played by James. Kevin went on to be known as the “Golden Warrior” and their sons Ross and Marshall also went on to become wrestlers. Their story is hinted at in the trailer released earlier this year. “Ever since I was a child, people said my family was cursed. Mum tried to protect us with God. Pop tried to protect us with wrestling,” Kevin delivers in a voiceover. “He said if we were the toughest, the strongest, nothing could ever hurt us. I believed him; we all did.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Central Perk, the coffee shop and popular hangout spot in Friends has been on display at pop-ups but now a permanent location is set to be opened where the late Matthew Perry will be honoured. From this week, fans of the popular sitcom can visit the 2,600-square-foot coffee shop located on Newbury Street in Boston, which was one of the central places Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Monica (Courteney Cox), Chandler, Ross (Matthew Perry), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) would frequent in the ten seasons that aired from 1994 to 2004. The original October opening date was pushed back due to the sudden and tragic death of Perry on October 28. To honour Perry and his well-loved character, Chandler Bing, the new shop will be handing out coffee sleeves with one of Chandler's iconic quotes, “Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?” Following this, there will also be sleeves with quotes from other characters from the show after opening day. Celebrity chef, restaurateur and “Top Chef” judge Tom Colicchio is behind the curated menu for the coffeehouse, as per the store’s website. There are coffee blends available to purchase online, while the products in the coffee line after some memorable catchphrases from the show such as Pivot Blend, We Were on a Coffee Break, Oh.My.GAWD, and How You Doin’? Of course, it wouldn't be a nod to Central Perk without an oversized orange couch - and although the shop makes design references and includes memorabilia from the show, it isn't looking to identically match the original set. "It's not about creating a replica of it, it's really looking at what it would look like today,” Glen Coben, founder and principal designer of Glen & Co Architecture told PEOPLE. “It’s a modern interpretation of what a coffee shop or Central Perk would look like in 2024.” There is also a bright neon sign that says "The One With..." in reference to the episode names, which will no doubt be an Instagrammable photo op, as well as images around the place such as one of a gold chicken and duck, a reference to Chandler and Joey’s pets in the show. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

There are plenty of actors and actresses who end up making films and TV shows that they don’t like – but few actually admit as much. One person who has is Jacob Elordi. The Australian actor revealed that he thinks his 2018 film The Kissing Booth is “ridiculous” and said that he never wanted to make the movie or its sequels. The 26-year-old is known for his roles in Euphoria, as well as the three films in the Kissing Booth series. He also stars as Elvis Presley in the new Sophia Coppola film Priscilla. However, the actor was asked about his experiences making the romcoms earlier on in his career, where he played the protagonist Noah Flynn. The film has a rating of just 15 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes - and Elordi is a little sheepish about starring in them. Speaking to GQ, Elordi said he “didn't [actually] want to make those movies before [he] made those movies” Branding the films “ridiculous”, he said: "They're not universal. They're an escape." He went on to discuss the balance actors and actresses in Hollywood often choose to take, balancing making ‘one for them’ and then one film for themselves as a performer. "It can become 15 for them, none for you. You have no original ideas and you’re dead inside. So it’s a fine dance,” he said. Elordi admitted that he “felt very corny” after making The Kissing Booth. "I felt like I had to prove to everyone that I was a serious actor. I felt terribly misunderstood." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings