They say it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good… and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has cause to celebrate his bravery in taking on the Netflix survival show Celebrity Bear Hunt.
The flamboyant interior designer was involved in a freak accident during filming in Costa Rica last year when he jumped off a boat and then became entangled in a bungee rope, causing him to be dragged under the vessel.
The show’s star Bear Grylls had to revive him on the shoreline and Llewelyn-Bowen was apparently left extremely shaken by events, telling friends: ‘I thought I was a goner.’
Bosses at the production company making the show were hugely apologetic about his ordeal.
In the months that have passed, though, they have reflected on 59-year-old Llewelyn-Bowen’s charm, and his cool response to the crisis, and I hear that they are now actively pursuing the idea of a fly-on-the-wall ‘at home with’ reality TV show.
In fact, I’m told it’s already filming and may even end up on Netflix.
The show will see Llewelyn-Bowen invite the crew into the home he shares with his wife Jackie, their two daughters, their daughters’ husbands – and four grandchildren.
They say it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good… and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (pictured) has cause to celebrate his bravery in taking on the Netflix survival show Celebrity Bear Hunt
The flamboyant interior designer was involved in a freak accident during filming in Costa Rica last year when he jumped off a boat and then became entangled in a bungee rope, causing him to be dragged under the vessel. Pictured: Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and wife Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen.
A new show will see Llewelyn-Bowen invite the crew into the home he shares with his wife Jackie (pictured), their two daughters, their daughters’ husbands – and four grandchildren
In an interview in Saga magazine published just before Christmas, he told readers: ‘Our house near Cirencester has been divided into three.
It’s a 17th-century manor house and we’ve got separate homes for my wife Jackie and me, plus the rest of the Bowen clan: my daughters Cecile and Hermione, their partners Dan and Drew, and four grandchildren: Albion, eight; Demelza, three; Romily, two, and Eleanora, 18 months.
‘At 5pm every day, the family gathers for drinkies and nibbles.
‘Camera crews have been sniffing around for years, asking if they can film the family. Finally, we said yes, and they’ve been following us for a good part of 2024.
‘Is it a reality show? Sort of. They say that we’re an unusual family, but we’re just doing what comes naturally.’
Celebrity Bear Hunt, which is presented by Holly Willoughby and is streaming from February 5, sees Bear Grylls in a ‘game of cat and mouse’ in the jungle, hunting down celebrities including former tennis champion Boris Becker, Strictly’s Shirley Ballas, Spice Girl Mel B and model Lottie Moss.
Celebrity Bear Hunt, which is presented by Holly Willoughby and is streaming from February 5
The show sees Bear Grylls in a ‘game of cat and mouse’ in the jungle, hunting down celebrities including former tennis champion Boris Becker, Strictly’s Shirley Ballas, Spice Girl Mel B and model Lottie Moss
Apprentice incoming
Those of us who live to see Lord Sugar raise a finger and growl: ‘You’re fired!’ on The Apprentice will be looking forward to the start of a new series on BBC One next week.
This year’s hopefuls look to be a lively bunch.
Convenience store owner turned bubble tea tycoon-in-waiting Amber-Rose Badrudin has already made waves, after apparently striking up a romance with fellow contestant Keir Shave.
It can be revealed Ms Badrudin is very ready for her close-up, having set up a ‘media representation’ company last year.
Dame Harriet Walter’s struggle to capture Thatcher’s smile
Dame Harriet Walter wore a wig, contact lenses, fake teeth and a ‘full padded bra’ to portray prime minister Margaret Thatcher in Channel 4’s drama Brian & Maggie.
Dame Harriet Walter wore a wig, contact lenses, fake teeth and a ‘full padded bra’ to portray prime minister Margaret Thatcher in Channel 4’s drama Brian & Maggie
But she couldn’t capture the Iron Lady’s icy smile.
‘She’s quite mask-like in a way,’ Walter said. ‘She would smile with her mouth and not with her eyes, and I couldn’t do that.
I tried, but I’ve watched some of it and my eyes are smiling.’
The first part goes out next Wednesday on Channel 4.
From sensible cousin to 40-year-old Supermum
British actress Emily Beecham is only 40, but can pass for much younger — as she showed in 2021 mini series The Pursuit Of Love, when she played Lily James’s sensible cousin.
However, it seems her maternal era has dawned as she is playing Milly Alcock’s mother in Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow, which has started filming in the UK this week for Warner Bros.
British actress Emily Beecham (pictured) is only 40, but can pass for much younger — as she showed in 2021 mini series The Pursuit Of Love, when she played Lily James’s sensible cousin
House Of The Dragon star Alcock, 24, plays DC comics heroine Supergirl in an origin story which traces the life of Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, before she came to earth and donned her cape.
Warner Bros also has a Superman reboot coming up, which stars David Corenswet in the role previously taken by Henry Cavill.
That’s due out in the summer of 2026. In real life, Beecham is dating German actor Max Befort, 35, and is a good friend of Phoebe WallerBridge — they were at Rada together
The return of Bridget Jones’s pyjamas
The costume designer on the new instalment of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy has given the heroine a pair of the very same penguin pyjamas that Renee Zellweger wore in the first film, back in 2001.
The costume designer on the new instalment of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy has given the heroine a pair of the very same penguin pyjamas that Renee Zellweger wore in the first film, back in 2001
Molly Emma Rowe recreated the red pyjamas, pictured, which were not saved after the first film was completed.
She washed the new ones hundreds of times to make them look as if they had been in use for a couple of decades, and even pulled out some threads to make them look tattier.
The film, which stars Leo Woodall as Bridget’s toyboy lover, is out in cinemas on February 13.
Armie’s comeback is ‘sinister and horrifying’, say accusers
Armie Hammer’s return to the movies after abuse claims has been condemned by one of his accusers – who says that his re-entry into Hollywood ‘re-traumatises’ her and others.
Effie Angelova, who claims that Hammer raped her in 2017, says his return to acting is ‘sinister and horrifying’.
He has roles in Frontier Crucible (a low-budget Western) and The Dark Knight (a thriller about a vigilante) for German director Uwe Boll, which will be filmed this year. Hammer remarked: ‘I’m turning down jobs.
Armie Hammer’s return to the movies after abuse claims has been condemned by one of his accusers – who says that his re-entry into Hollywood ‘re-traumatises’ her and others
My dance card is pretty full.’ The actor, pictured right, who starred in Call Me By Your Name, Death On The Nile and The Social Network, fell from grace following a ‘cannibalism’ scandal in 2021.
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Armie Hammer talks 'cannibal' scandal as he reveals he's living in a 'tiny-ass apartment'
He now lives in a ‘tiny-ass’ apartment in Venice, Los Angeles, and is divorced from TV personality Elizabeth Chambers, the mother of his two children.
Miss Angelova was one of three women who came forward to complain about Hammer.
She said that he sent her messages including one which ran: ‘I am 100 per cent a cannibal. I want to eat you.’
Another accuser, Courtney Vucekovich, said he told her he wanted to cook and eat one of her ribs.
She said that she had been hospitalised for post-traumatic stress disorder after the affair.
Influencer Paige Lorenze claimed that the actor ‘branded’ her, left her covered in bruises and talked about ‘consuming her’.
Hammer later admitted to Piers Morgan that he had ‘scratched’ the letter ‘A’ into Lorenze’s pelvis, but said that he had used just the ‘tip of a small knife and there wasn’t blood’.
Hammer admitted to Piers Morgan that he had ‘scratched’ the letter ‘A’ into Lorenze’s pelvis, but said that he had used just the ‘tip of a small knife and there wasn’t blood’
Angelova, meanwhile, said that Hammer clearly had ‘no remorse’ and added: ‘People who platform abusers like Armie don’t care about the trauma he’s inflicted that we still suffer.
They keep re-traumatising us. It makes me feel voiceless. ‘It sends a message to women and victims that you can have his abuse admitted by him in writing, and in his own words, and there will still be people who excuse it.’
She said she now suffers from crippling PTSD and doubts that she will ever recover from their relationship.
‘He told me he wanted to cut off my limbs,’ she said. ‘He thinks it’s funny. The media labelled his abuse his ‘fetish’.’
Hammer always insisted, through his lawyer, that the encounters with the women were consensual.
The LAPD investigated and in May 2023 the district attorney said there was not enough evidence to indict him.
Hart at the helm
Comedian and actress Miranda Hart, whose dad was a captain in the Royal Navy, is studying for her powerboating licence and says: ‘I like nothing better than being in or on the water.’
Hart bought a series of the Royal Yachting Association’s books, including the Powerboat Handbook, during the pandemic and is now studying to get her licence.
She told the My Mate Bought A Toaster podcast: ‘I want to follow a dream of perhaps getting a l i t t l e powerboat, or at least getting my powerboat licence so I can rent boats.
Comedian and actress Miranda Hart (pictured), whose dad was a captain in the Royal Navy, is studying for her powerboating licence and says: ‘I like nothing better than being in or on the water’
‘Not sailing, that’s all too complicated and exhausting. But a powerboat — I’ve always loved that idea.’
Hart, 52, has suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome and Lyme disease, which at times left her bed-bound with exhaustion.
Last year she married surveyor Richard Fairs, who had come to her house to treat an infestation of mould
The Brutalist’s brilliance
Guy Pearce has a good feeling about his film The Brutalist, which yesterday picked up ten Oscar nominations.
Speaking at The Barbican earlier this week, he said: ‘I can tell when I watch a film whether it has worked or not.
In the picture, which opens in UK cinemas today, Pearce plays millionaire Harrison Lee Van Buren (right), who becomes the patron of the main character, architect Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody, left)
‘I have watched films I have done and thought: “Damn, it has not come together as it should.”
‘And then you have movies like LA Confidential and The Brutalist.
‘I found The Brutalist very moving and I just went “Wow!”.’
In the picture, which opens in UK cinemas today, Pearce plays millionaire Harrison Lee Van Buren, who becomes the patron of the main character, architect Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody).
‘My agent called me to say he had seen a rough cut of it,’ Pearce recalled, ‘and said: “I think I have just seen an Orson Welles movie.”‘