Bosses at new station Talk TV are expected to refresh their schedule after a challenging first week. Some shows have struggled to attract viewers since launch, averaging around 5,000 on Monday. Piers Morgan, below left, got more for his Uncensored show, with an average 61,700 viewers.
The channel, funded by Rupert Murdoch, piloted a range of programmes before going to air, and is expected to try out new ideas.
Highly billed presenter Sharon Osbourne, far right, flew back to LA last week after just three episodes of her show The Talk because husband Ozzy caught Covid. Jeremy Kyle is set to have his own show.
The ratings have caused mirth at rival Right-wing channel GB News, which was mocked for errors on launch last year. A source said: “This is worse than when GB started. At least then people were watching for the bloopers.”
A Talk TV source said that a “huge” online reach and Morgan’s US and Australian audiences mean “there is really no comparison to anything on GB News”.
Order! Order! (some cryptocoins)
NIGEL EVANS MP tells us he was recently the victim of identity theft when someone impersonated him on Instagram to sell cryptocurrency. The Deputy Speaker assured us it wasn’t him. “I can’t even spell ‘crypto’, never mind know what it is,” he said.
The fake account uploaded several photos that Evans had “shoved up” on social media, as well as posts about “crypto-rubbish”. Although the MP’s close friends were able to spot the difference, the account got over a thousand followers. “I was worried that this scammer was going to get more followers than me,” he said.
Skepta: Fasting better than drugs
GRIME star Skepta says that fasting during Ramadan has brought him more peace than doing drugs. The Tottenham-born rapper, right, took to Instagram to tell fans about the experience: “I woke up this morning so happy… can’t stop crying. Everything I searched for in psychedelics, I found by fasting.” The three-time Brit nominee went on: “I use food to suppress emotional stress and anger.” Skepta said he will fast again “simply because it is so humbling”.
Putting the ER into engineering
The Queen has attended thousands of events, but her favourites are in the world of engineering, thinks Tina Brown, author of new book The Palace Papers. Speaking about Her Majesty’s invitation pile, the former Vanity Fair editor told a How To Academy event last night that “she’ll take from the rejection pile an invite to open a bridge or a tunnel. She just loves infrastructure”. Us too, ma’am.
SW1A
There’s the usual harmony in Labour ahead of tomorrow’s elections. When Keir Starmer suggested that he could expel MPs who don’t support Nato, Diane Abbott countered with this online broadside: “Keir Starmer refuses to say whether or not he supports a rise in defence spending.” Pulling together as usual.
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Last week Tory MP Neil Parish resigned after admitting to watching porn twice in the House of Commons, claiming that in one instance he was searching for tractors. Here’s something to while away his new free time: we called Classic Tractor magazine, where one staff member offered Parish a free subscription.
Art’s on the menu at RA’s dinner
Art was back in London last night as actors Weruche Opia and Nicôle Lecky and presenter Miquita Oliver attended the Royal Academy annual dinner. Elsewhere, Myleene Klass and Ian Wright went to Leicester Square for a Doctor Strange screening. Singer Joy Crookes attended a launch for label Jacquemus’s Selfridges pop-up. And in Notting Hill, India Rose James hosted a party for restaurant The Residency.
