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Welcome to Screen Gab the newsletter for everyone who needs a break from doomscrolling.

If your brain needs a fantasy adventure to escape the realities of life, perhaps the escapades of a time-traveling librarian will suit your needs. “The Librarians,” which started as a trio of TV movies that evolved into a four-season TV series, has built out its universe with the recent spinoff “The Librarians: The Next Chapter.” Showrunner Dean Devlin stopped by Guest Spot to discuss how the new show connects to the wider franchise.

And if you’re into crime dramas as a form of escapist TV, this week’s streaming recommendations include a new British detective drama that features a mismatched crime-solving duo and the prequel series in “Dexter’s” expanding serial killer universe.

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Must-read stories you might have missed

50 years after Marshal Matt Dillon’s last draw, ‘Gunsmoke’ is a streaming hit: The adult western drama with James Arness is finding loyal fans and new audiences on Peacock, Paramount+ and Pluto TV.

Commentary: Why on earth is Dr. Phil involved in immigration raids? Another made-for-TV event from a reality star president: Of all the alarming things that have happened in L.A., Dr. Phil hanging out with Trump’s top border policy advisor during immigration raids was the weirdest.

In ‘Murderbot,’ an anxious scientist and an autonomous robot develop a workplace-trauma bond: Alexander Skarsgård and Noma Dumezweni, co-stars of Apple TV+’s ‘Murderbot,’ discuss Episode 6 of the sci-fi series and the autism-coded robot at the center of the show.

‘Materialists’ is a smart and funny all-star love triangle with its own commitment issues: In Celine Song’s rom-com follow-up to her Oscar-nominated ‘Past Lives,’ Pedro Pascal is rich, Chris Evans is poor and Dakota Johnson is a matchmaking mercenary.

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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

“Death Valley” (BritBox)

Set not in our own dry desert but the verdant valleys of Wales, this adorable and comical mystery series from the great Timothy Spall, OBE — longtime favorite of director Mike Leigh and familiar to many as Peter Pettigrew in five “Harry Potter” movies — stars as John Chapel, a former TV police detective living in small-town isolation after the death of his Welsh wife. Along comes Gwyneth Keyworth as the world’s sweetest (actual) police detective Janie Mallowan, Chapel’s biggest fan who knocks on his door in the middle of an investigation. After some back-and-forth, push and pull, they become one of those pro-am teams that figure in so many detective shows — like “Castle,” without the sex — and never better done than here. Chapel takes to the job in grand thespian style, playing characters, improvising and analyzing motives through character analysis. (He’s not always right.) Janie is alternately stressed and impressed. Backdrops for the cases include a local theater production, a walking group, a wedding and a school reunion — cozy stuff. — Robert Lloyd

“Dexter: Original Sin” (Paramount+ with Showtime)

If superheroes can have origin stories, why not serial killers carrying on their secret mission of justice? That’s the concept of Showtime’s “Dexter: Original Sin,” which travels back to 1991 to show how the crafty Dexter Morgan, the forensics specialist who moonlighted as a vigilante, began his killing ways while working as an intern at the Miami Metro Police Department. The series premiered last year as a prequel spinoff of “Dexter,” the popular drama/dark comedy that ran for eight seasons and later continued its story in the sequel series “Dexter: New Blood.” Patrick Gibson uncannily captures the mannerisms, facial expressions and inflections of “Dexter” star Michael C. Hall, who provides the trademark narration that was one of the signatures of the original series. The show is the perfect appetizer for the July 11 premiere of “Dexter: Resurrection,” which brings the titular antihero back to life despite being “shot to death” by his son Harrison (Jack Alcott) in the finale of “Dexter: New Blood.” — Greg Braxton

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

“The Librarians” is back after more than seven years, but things are a little different from when we last visited this fantasy land, which spanned three films (starring Noah Wyle) and a four-season TV series. In its latest iteration, “The Librarians: The Next Chapter,” we’re introduced to a new librarian named Vikram Chamberlain (Callum McGowan), who time-traveled from 1847 and now finds himself stuck in the present. He returns to his castle in Belgrade, Serbia only to find that it’s now a museum — but more notably, his arrival releases magic across the continent, leading to some strange occurrences. He has to clean up the mess, with some help in the form of guardian Charlie (Jessica Green), scientist Lysa (Olivia Morris) — who inherited the castle — and historian Connor (Bluey Robinson). For fans of the original series, Christian Kane makes a guest appearance as librarian Jacob Stone. Also returning is showrunner and executive producer Dean Devlin, who is carrying the torch on the series. He stopped by Screen Gab to talk about the new season, which currently airs on TNT and is also available for streaming on TNT’s website and app, TNTdrama.com. — Maira Garcia

“The Librarians” has amassed a legion of loyal fans over the years, first with the films and then with the series. What made you decide to return to it and how did you approach developing “The Next Chapter” with a new cast?

Honestly, I never wanted to stop telling stories in the world of the magical Library! When an opportunity came up to continue the franchise, I jumped at it. I didn’t want to reboot the story, because in my mind (and the fans) the original team of Librarians are still out there doing missions. I wanted to focus on a different story that takes place in parallel. When the idea of a Librarian from the past appearing today, it felt like just the right “fish out of water” story we needed to kick off a new series.

The series features this push and pull of logic and magic, history and fantasy. How do you juggle history with the supernatural elements of the show?

It’s really important to us that viewers can Google things we talk about in our show. While we may not follow exactly the legends in the zeitgeist, we wanted there to be enough of a connection to deepen the enjoyment of our adventures. So history and mythology are at the heart of our show. Sometimes we’ll give an alternate perspective or backstory, but there is always a nugget [of] connection to the stories we want to tell.

Throughout your career, you’ve worked on a number of sci-fi and fantasy films and series like “Stargate,” “Independence Day” and “The Ark.” What is it about these genres that appeals to you, and why do you think audiences gravitate toward them?

Often “escapist” entertainment is looked down upon as a lesser art form. But I find that audiences, especially after dealing with things like a pandemic, economic and personal hardships, [or] political divisions, have a real NEED to escape into a world of optimism and wonder and adventure. I’m no exception.

What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?

It’s not super recent, but I’ve loved watching “Only Murders in the Building” [Hulu], “Ted Lasso” [AppleTV+], “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” “Star Trek: Picard” (especially season 3) [both on Paramount+] and the new “Doctor Who” [Disney+].

What’s your go-to comfort watch, the film or TV show you return to again and again?

If “Tombstone” or “Enter the Dragon” is playing on late-night TV, then I’m not getting any sleep. And of course, the 10th and 11th Doctors on “Doctor Who” are a constant fallback watch for me.

MAURA Higgins has been’confirmed’ for a huge reality show after being replaced on Love Island USA.

It was revealed last week that Maura, 34, had been replaced as a host on Love Island USA – but she’s already moving on.

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Maura has been named as one of the stars of the upcoming series of The Traiters USA, after the cast list leaked online.

It comes after The Sun revealed Irish beauty Maura was set to appear on the show.

Driverless Waymo vehicles, coated with graffiti and engulfed in flames. Masked protesters, dancing and cavorting around burning American flags. Anonymous figures brazenly blocking streets and shutting down major freeways, raining bottles and rocks on the police, while their compatriots waved Mexican flags.

The images flowing out of Los Angeles over nearly a week of protests against federal immigration raids have cast America’s second most populous city as a terrifying hellscape, where lawbreakers rule the streets and regular citizens should fear to leave their homes.

In the relentless fever loop of online and broadcast video, it does not matter that the vast majority of Los Angeles neighborhoods remain safe and secure. Digital images create their own reality and it’s one that President Trump and his supporters have used to condemn L.A. as a place that is “out of control” and on the brink of total collapse.

The images and their true meaning and context have become the subject of a furious debate in the media and among political partisans, centered on the true roots and victims of the protests, which erupted on Friday as the Trump administration moved aggressively to expand its arrests of undocumented immigrants.

As the president and his supporters in conservative media tell it, he is the defender of law and order and American values. They cast their opponents as dangerous foreign-born criminals and their feckless enablers in the Democratic Party and mainstream media.

The state’s political leaders and journalists offer a compelling rebuttal: that Trump touched off several days of protest and disruption with raids that went far beyond targeting criminals, as he previously promised, then escalated the conflict by taking the highly unusual step of sending the National Guard and Marines to Southern California.

Reaction to the raids by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the subsequent turmoil will divide Americans on what have become partisan lines that have become so predictable they are “calcified,” said Lynn Vavreck, a political science professor at UCLA.

“The parties want to build very different worlds, voters know it, and they know which world they want to live in,” said Vavreck, who has focused on the country’s extreme political polarization. “And because the parties are so evenly divided, and this issue is so personal to so many, the stakes are very high for people.”

As a curfew was imposed Tuesday, the sharpest street confrontations appeared to be fading and a national poll suggested Americans have mixed feelings about the events that have dominated the news.

The YouGov survey of 4,231 people found that 50% disapprove of the Trump administration’s handling of deportations, compared with 39% who approve. Pluralities of those sampled also disagreed with Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marines to Southern California.

But 45% of those surveyed by YouGov said they disapprove of the protests that began after recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. Another 36% approved of the protests, with the rest unsure how they feel.

Faced with a middling public response to the ICE raids and subsequent protests, Trump continued to use extreme language to exaggerate the magnitude of the public safety threat and to take credit for the reduction in hostilities as the week progressed.

In a post on his TruthSocial site, he suggested that, without his military intervention, “Los Angeles would be burning just like it was burning a number of months ago, with all the houses that were lost. Los Angeles right now would be on fire.”

In reality, agitators set multiple spot fires in a few neighborhoods, including downtown Los Angeles and Paramount, but the blazes in recent days were tiny and quickly controlled, in contrast to the massive wildfires that devastated broad swaths of Southern California in January.

Trump’s hyperbole continued in a fundraising appeal to his supporters Tuesday. In it, he again praised his decision to deploy the National Guard (without the approval of California Gov. Gavin Newsom), concluding: “If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated.”

The Republican had assistance in fueling the sense of unease.

His colleagues in Congress introduced a resolution to formally condemn the riots. “Congress steps in amid ‘out-of-control’ Los Angeles riots as Democrats resist federal help,” Fox News reported on the resolution, being led by Rep. Young Kim of Orange County.

A journalist based in New Delhi pronounced, based on unspecified evidence, that Los Angeles “is descending into a full-blown warzone.”

Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas Collins suggested that the harm from the protesters was spreading; announcing in a social media post that a care center for vets in downtown L.A. had been temporarily closed.

“To the violent mobs in Los Angeles rioting in support of illegal immigrants and against the rule of law,” his post on X said, “your actions are interfering with Veterans’ health care.”

A chyron running with a Fox News commentary suggested “Democrats have lost their mind,” as proved by their attempts to downplay the anti-ICE riots.

Many Angelenos mocked the claims of a widespread public safety crisis. One person on X posted a picture of a dog out for a walk along a neatly kept sidewalk in a serene neighborhood, with the caption: “Los Angeles just an absolute warzone, as you can see.”

In stark contrast to the photos of Waymo vehicles burning and police cars being pelted with rocks, a video on social media showed a group of protestors line dancing. “Oh my God! They must be stopped before their peaceful and joy filled dance party spreads to a city near you!” the caption read. “Please send in the Marines before they start doing the Cha Cha and the Macarena!”

And many people noted on social media that Sunday’s Pride parade in Hollywood for the LGBTQ+ community went off without incident, as reinforced by multiple videos of dancers and marchers celebrating along a sun-splashed parade route.

But other activists and Democrats signaled that they understand how Trump’s position can be strengthened if it appears they are condoning the more extreme episodes that emerged along with the protests — police being pelted with bottles, businesses being looted and buildings being defaced with graffiti.

On Tuesday, an X post by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass reiterated her earlier admonitions: “Let me be clear: ANYONE who vandalized Downtown or looted stores does not care about our immigrant communities,” the mayor wrote. “You will be held accountable.”

The activist group Occupy Democrats posted a message online urging protesters to show their disdain for the violence and property damage.

“The moment violence of property damage begins, EVERY OTHER PROTESTER must immediately sit on the floor or the ground in silence, with signs down,” the advisory suggested. “The media needs to film this. This will reveal paid fake thugs posing as protesters becoming violent. ….The rest of us will demonstrate our non-violent innocence and retain our Constitutional right to peaceful protest.”

Craig Silverman, a journalist and cofounder of Indicator, a site that investigates deception on digital platforms, said that reporting on the context and true scope of the protests would have a hard time competing with the visceral images broadcast into Americans’ homes.

“It’s inevitable that the most extreme and compelling imagery will win the battle for attention on social media and on TV,” Silverman said via email. “It’s particularly challenging to deliver context and facts when social platforms incentivize the most shocking videos and claims, federal and state authorities offer contradictory messages about what’s happening.”

Dan Schnur, who teaches political science at USC and UC Berkeley, agreed. “The overwhelming majority of the protesters are peaceful,” Schnur said, “but they don’t do stories on all the planes that land safely at LAX, either.”

Though it might be too early to assess the ultimate impact of the L.A. unrest, Schnur suggested that all of the most prominent politicians in the drama might have accomplished their messaging goals: Trump motivated his base and diverted attention from his nasty feud with his former top advisor, Elon Musk, and the lack of progress on peace talks with Russia and Ukraine. Newsom “effectively unified the state and elevated his national profile” by taking on Trump. And Bass, under tough scrutiny for her handling of the city’s wildfire disaster, has also gotten a chance to use Trump as a foil.

What was not disputed was that Trump’s rapid deployment of the National Guard, without the approval of Newsom, had little precedent. And sending the Marines to L.A. was an even more extreme approach, with experts saying challenges to the deployment would test the limits of Trump’s power.

The federal Insurrection Act allows the deployment of the military for law enforcement purposes, but only under certain conditions, such as a national emergency.

California leaders say Trump acted before a true emergency developed, thereby preempting standard protocols, including the institution of curfews and the mobilization of other local police departments in a true emergency.

Even real estate developer Rick Caruso, Bass’ opponent in the last election, suggested Trump acted too hastily.

“There is no emergency, widespread threat, or out of control violence in Los Angeles,” Caruso wrote on X Sunday. “And absolutely no danger that justifies deployment of the National Guard, military, or other federal force to the streets of this or any other Southern California City.”

“We must call for calm in the streets,” Caruso added, “and deployment of the National Guard may prompt just the opposite.”

Can someone explain to me what, exactly, Dr. Phil has to do with immigration policy or constitutional law in these United States?

Many outrageous and unsettling things happened in Los Angeles over the weekend. On Friday, multiple immigration raids, in downtown’s Fashion District and outside a Home Depot in Paramount, sparked a not unusual response that led to police involvement, during which many, including union official David Huerta, were arrested.

Ostensibly dissatisfied with the handling of the situation, President Trump, over objections from both L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, made the highly unusual — and potentially illegal — decision to send in the National Guard. Tensions escalated and by Sunday, portions of L.A. freeways were shut down as some protesters and/or outside agitators vandalized downtown stores, defaced buildings, hurled rocks from downtown overpasses onto law enforcement vehicles and set fire to a few Waymo cars. Trump’s border advisor, Tom Homan, threatened to arrest Newsom if citizens of this sanctuary state continued to interfere with immigration raids, and Newsom publicly dared him to do it, adding that California would be suing the Trump administration for making the situation worse by sending in the National Guard. On Monday, Homan appeared to backtrack on his threat while Trump said he would support it.

It was both a little — no one should have been surprised that ICE raids in L.A. would spark protests and these were, relatively speaking, small and nonviolent — and a lot. Sending in the National Guard was an obvious military flex, designed to to bait Angelenos while perhaps distracting Americans from Trump’s far greater troubles.

But nothing said “this is a made-for-TV event brought to you by the same reality-star-led administration that proposed making legal immigration into a television competition” as the presence of Phil McGraw. Who, after being embedded with ICE officials during raids in Chicago earlier this year, spent some of this weekend kicking it with Homan in L.A.’s Homeland Security headquarters.

As first reported by CNN’s Brian Stelter, Dr. Phil was there to get “a first-hand look” at the targeted operations and an “exclusive” interview with Homan for “Dr. Phil Primetime” on MeritTV, part of Merit Street Media, which McGraw owns.

Dr. Phil is, for the record, neither a journalist nor an immigration or domestic policy expert. He isn’t even a psychologist anymore, having let his license to practice (which he never held in California) lapse years ago.

He is instead a television personality and outspoken Trump supporter who was on hand to … I honestly don’t know what. Provide psychological support to Homan as he threatened to arrest elected officials for allowing citizens to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech while using local law enforcement to prevent any violence or destruction of property that might occur? Offer Homan another platform on which he could explain why Trump is breaking his own vow to target only those undocumented immigrants who have committed violent crime?

Or maybe just provide a familiar face to help normalize rounding up people from their workplaces and off the street and sending in the National Guard when this doesn’t appear to be happening smoothly enough.

There is, of course, the chance that McGraw asked Homan some tough questions. In a clip from the interview posted on X, he appears to begin his interview by asking what exactly happened this “busy” weekend in L.A. Homan replies that multiple law enforcement agencies were “looking for at-large criminals” and serving search warrants as part of a larger money laundering investigation, including at one company where “we knew about half of their employees were illegally in the United States” and in “service of those warrants, we arrested 41 illegal aliens.”

Still, after years of claiming to be nonpolitical, McGraw gave the president a full-throated endorsement at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in 2024 while denouncing diversity initiatives. McGraw said the name of his media company pays homage to Americans who made it “on hard work … not on equal outcomes or DEI.”

McGraw’s presence during immigration raids, and his choice as the person who should interview Homan even as things escalated in L.A., would seem downright weird if it weren’t so politically perilous. Merit Street Media is one of a growing number of new news outlets claiming to offer “fresh perspective” on “American values” while hewing almost exclusively to Trump’s MAGA message and offering “safe spaces” to conservatives. Then-presidential candidate Trump told Dr. Phil in August — in reference to those involved in his felony conviction — “revenge can be justified” and that he would win California if Jesus were counting the ballots.

Using McGraw as a platform to explain Trump and Homan’s divisive immigration policy and incendiary decision in L.A. most certainly underlines the criticism that these raids, and the fallout they will inevitably cause particularly in sanctuary states and cities, are being conducted with maximum spectacle awareness. If McGraw isn’t a direct part of the policy, he appears to be a big part of its publicity.

Which is a bit alarming. Over the years, McGraw has been criticized about his treatment of guests (some of whom sued) and staff. In 2020, he issued an apology for comparing the mounting deaths from COVID-19 to the (far smaller) number of deaths due to drowning in swimming pools.

After his fellow Oprah alum, Dr. Mehmet Oz, ran for the Senate last year, McGraw shrugged off the notion that he would ever follow suit, saying he “doesn’t know enough about it.” “When you start talking to me about geopolitics and all the things that go into that — I’m a neophyte, I don’t think I would be competent to do that.”

Nor is there any indication that he is well-versed in immigration or constitutional law. If Trump and Homan honestly wanted a recognizable TV brand to help walk Americans through the legal complications of what happened in L.A. over the weekend, they should have asked Judge Judy.

Maria Reva creates beautiful, purposeful chaos. Informed by deep personal loss, her startling metafictional debut novel, “Endling,” is a forceful mashup of storytelling modes that call attention to its interplay of reality and fiction — a Ukrainian tragicomedy of errors colliding with social commentary about the Russian invasion.

A poorly planned crime serves as the anchor. “Endling” throws three strangers involved with Ukraine’s for-profit international matchmaking market together for a quixotic kidnapping caper in a nation on the brink of war. There’s a twisted, postmodern “Canterbury Tales”-like quality to these proceedings: Like medieval pilgrims, its central characters are each on a journey they hope will change their lives. And everyone is suffering some level of delusion.

If “Endling” has a main character, it’s the woman whose mission is to save the nation’s endangered snails; another key player is a lone wolf terrorist who hopes her political orchestrations will spark a family reunion. Then there’s the lonely, disaffected expatriate bachelor on the hunt for a quiet, traditional wife. Through their perspectives, black humor flows freely, as the motivations and experiences that brought this motley crew together rise to the surface.

Context is crucial in “Endling.” These characters cross paths early in 2022, when mass violence threatens to overwhelm every other concern. But despite the amassing of Russian troops on the border, the military invasion of Ukraine seems so surreal that no one knows what to believe or how much to fear. So these quests march on even as the crack of explosions grows louder.

The stories that emerge about our three key players are evocative, provocative and absurd — a contrast to looming darkness. Between those narratives, there are commentaries about the history and politics of Ukraine and on publishing and writing about Ukraine, plus the author’s family and its plight at the time of the book’s writing. As Reva, a native of Ukraine, writes in an early, epistolary section, in response to a magazine editor’s critique of the irreverence of her solicited essay about the war: “You’d asked for the type of reporting/response that would differ from that of a non-Ukrainian. In Ukraine, dark humor dates back to the Soviet days, giving people who live in uncontrollable circumstances a sense of power. If you can laugh about a dark reality, you rise above it, etc.”

No story better exemplifies that ethos than that of the teenage fake bride turned kidnapper who aches for her mother. Young, beautiful Nastia (a.k.a. Anastasia) — just 18 years old and six months past high school graduation — brings the group together. Ostensibly to stop the exploitation of women, this daughter of a fierce feminist activist who has long protested the tourist marriage market resolves to make an unforgettable public statement by kidnapping 100 male clients of the matchmaking service “Romeo and Yulia” at the start of one of its romance tours. Though the stunt is nominally aimed at exposing and ending degrading matchmaking practices, what Nastia really yearns for is her missing parent’s attention. When Nastia decides that a mobile trailer van in the guise of an escape room would be the perfect means of the men’s abduction, she begs Yeva, a fellow bride in possession of an RV, to rent it to her.

Like Nastia, Yeva is a “bride” with an agenda. A scientist who’s lost her grant funding, Yeva uses the marriage mart grift to sustain her life’s work. Her story exemplifies the mercenary nature of the international marriage market. While Romeo and Yulia’s “brides,” as the women are called, aren’t paid a salary, they regularly receive gifts from suitors. In exchange for allowing the agency to use her as “shimmering bait” on the website, women like Yeva “could also return tour after tour and, without bending any rules, make decent money. In fact, the agency endorsed the practice: any gifts ordered by bachelors through the agency — gym membership, cooking class, customizable charm bracelet — could be redeemed by the brides for cash from the agency office.”

Yeva’s story gives the novel a melancholy moral center. And it’s from Yeva’s quest that the book derives its title: An “endling” is the last individual in a dying species, the kind she is dedicated to protecting. After losing access to institutional support, Yeva equipped the trailer as a roaming laboratory and storage site where (at the peak) she sustained over 270 species of rare gastropods. Though she prefers mollusks to men, it’s Yeva who insists on reducing the kidnapping target from 100 to 12, a number that the trailer could humanely accommodate.

Pasha, one of the men Nastia lures to the trailer, has his own ambitions. Born in Ukraine and raised in Canada, Pasha’s secret is that he doesn’t plan to return to the West with his bride like the other clients. Instead, he fantasizes about resettling in the Ukraine and forging a life that might command the respect he craves from his parents. Pasha is the sympathetic face of Western men beguiled by nostalgia for “traditional” wives unsullied by feminism and high expectations. His motives are sincere even if his relationship with women and his family might be better served through therapy.

“Endling” isn’t an easy read, but it is brilliant and heart-stopping. Authorial interludes can feel like interruptions, but by breaking the fourth wall, Reva forces us to pay attention to the ongoing devastation behind the narrative while unpacking the compromises of storytelling. Plus, Yeva, Nastia and Pasha and the merchants of romance spin their own fictions: They have trouble telling the difference between truth and make-believe even as the sounds of war grow near and even when bullets penetrate flesh.

This building up and breaking down of artifice forces reflection on how we use fiction to explore and bend reality while undermining the comforts of distance. As the author confesses, “I need to keep fact and fiction straight, but they keep blurring together.”

Bell is a critic and media researcher exploring culture, politics and identity in art.

Molly-Mae Hague has reportedly signed up for a reality show – her first since she went on Love Island several years ago – amid her reunion with partner Tommy Fury

Molly-Mae Hague has reportedly signed up for a huge reality show – her first since Love Island. The reality star turned businesswoman and influencer appeared on the 2019 series of the ITV dating show where she met Tommy Fury.

Molly-Mae and Tommy’s relationship was loved by fans and the pair enjoyed a long romance following the show, even welcoming their daughter Bambi. However, they split last year – before eventually rekindling their romance.

She has since appeared on her own ‘behind-the-scenes’ documentary series, where – in the first part – she documented her split from Tommy. In the second part of the series, she discussed being back with Tommy.

Molly-Mae recently confirmed she was back with Tommy after their holiday. She said: “Dubai was picture perfect, like it was just the best trip ever. It literally just felt like everything I wanted it to be, and more.

“It was exactly what we needed. All the noise of everyone just switched off, everyone’s opinions. Nothing mattered. It was just like us in our bubble. She [Bambi] had the best time ever.”

She then added in her Amazon Prime series: “Things are looking so much better for us. I’m gonna start spending more time at Tommy’s house, keeping things slow and not rushing anything. But as always, I always say I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t think it’s gonna be a plain sailing future. I don’t. That’s just me being honest. I think we’re still gonna have bumps.”

Now, Molly-Mae has reportedly signed up for the celebrity version of The Great British Bake Off. She is appearing on the Stand Up To Cancer special alongside some other big names.

“She will be a great addition to the line-up and bring a healthy helping of Love Island glamour to the tent. Molly’s now one of Britain’s biggest TV stars and has seen her fame steadily grow since she first appeared on the dating show back in 2019,” a source told The Sun.

During the documentary, Molly-Mae’s sister expressed her concern that Tommy wasn’t able to handle his drinking problems – which both him and Molly-Mae have spoken out about in the path.

“Yeah, obviously he knows it’s the drink. He’s not drank now, like for what four months. But no, I don’t think the drink’s gone away forever. Could drink still be a problem for us? Potentially yes. But the break-up showed I was serious,” Molly-Mae said.

“I love Tommy so much and I love our family so much that I’m willing to ride the wave. And that’s not something that everyone wants to do, but it’s something that I’m willing to do because I want my family.”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone in need of a European getaway on a budget.

If you’re not taking a big summer trip this year, or if you are and want something to make the stress of traveling feel relaxing by comparison, NBC’s new reality competition series might be up your alley. “Destination X” features a mix of known reality stars and civilians as they put their geography knowledge and deduction skills to the test in Europe for a chance at a cash prize. Executive producer Andy Cadman stopped by Guest Spot to discuss the latest entrant in the travel-competition genre.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, TV critic Robert Lloyd unpacks the appeal of Netflix’s new series about a traumatized Edinburgh detective tasked with investigating cold cases, and film editor Josh Rothkopf explains why a quartet of travelogue comedy films featuring improv impresarios Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as they road-trip across Europe makes for an enjoyable binge.

Plus, a service announcement: The Emmys season of The Envelope video podcast launched this week. The premiere episode features Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, the stars of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” as well as “Andor” actor Diego Luna. You can watch here or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

ICYMI

Must-read stories you might have missed

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ showrunners on the unattainable finale reunion: ‘It was heartbreaking’: Co-showrunners Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang spoke about the finale of Hulu’s dystopic drama and the show’s parallels to the real world.

‘The Last of Us’: Kaitlyn Dever breaks down explosive finale, teases ‘crazier’ Season 3: The actor pulls back the curtain on the Season 2 finale, teases Season 3 and reveals why the reaction to Joel’s death defied her expectations.

After one legendary moment, actor Rolf Saxon chose to accept another ‘Mission’: His role in the first ‘Mission: Impossible’ was small but memorable. Now Rolf Saxon has been called back into action for ‘The Final Reckoning’ and a more substantial part.

Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel on ‘The Better Sister’ finale and taking control: The co-stars and executive producers discuss making the Prime Video limited series and their decades of experience.

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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

“Dept. Q” (Netflix)

In this dark yet strangely warm series adapted by Scott Frank (“The Queen’s Gambit”) from a book series by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen and transplanted from Copenhagen to Edinburgh, Matthew Goode plays Carl Morck, a moody police detective recovering from an incident, arguably his fault, that left him wounded, a partner partially paralyzed and a rookie dead. Talking his way back into service, he’s given a basement storage space for an office and a cold case involving a missing prosecutor (Chloe Pirrie), whose distressing circumstances we see without learning why. (It’s the mystery!) The primary pleasure of the series is in the team of fellow misfits who gather around Morck — a civilian expat (Alexej Manvelov) keeping mum on his experiences in the Syrian police; a chirpy cadet (Leah Byrne) back from a breakdown and tired of pushing pencils; and Morck’s recovering partner (Jamie Sives), joining from a hospital bed. It feels like the beginning of a beautiful second series. (With Shirley Henderson and Kelly Macdonald as a bonus for Scots watchers.) — Robert Lloyd

“The Trip: The Complete Series” (Criterion Collection, starting June 1)

Intensely bingeable (the movies actually got their start as four six-episode BBC runs), “The Trip” makes beautiful sense as an afternoon of viewing, maybe one accompanied by different cuisines as you go. The central premise: Actor-comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, playing barely altered versions of themselves, take to the road for epic conversations behind the wheel and at dinners, where the contours of their hyper-competitive friendship take shape, as does a parade of celebrity impressions. Director Michael Winterbottom steers the duo toward a deeper appreciation of life viewed through the rearview mirror, though honestly, you’re there for the vicious backbiting. For anyone wanting to dip in selectively: 2010’s “The Trip” features the guys’ classic dueling Michael Caines; 2014’s “The Trip to Italy” takes on “The Godfather”; 2017’s “The Trip to Spain” unleashes a killer, preening Mick Jagger; and 2020’s “The Trip to Greece” goes for Dustin Hoffman. — Joshua Rothkopf

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Imagine the pressure of trying to figure out where you are in the world while a man known for carrying a bat studded with barbed wire watches on. NBC’s new reality competition show, “Destination X,” follows 12 players who are whisked around Europe in a blacked-out bus — no windows or GPS to guide them — and tasked with trying to decipher their mystery locations through clues and challenges for a chance to win a cash prize. There’s plenty of alliances and rivalries that get formed along the way. The show is hosted by actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, known for his chilling turn as charismatic villain Negan in “The Walking Dead.” New episodes air every Tuesday on NBC, and can be streamed the next day on Peacock. Executive producer Andy Cadman stopped by Guest Spot via email to discuss the show’s mix of known reality TV personalities and civilians and more. — Yvonne Villarreal

“Destination X” is adapted from a Belgian format. How true to the original version is it? How much needed to be changed to suit American audiences?

The DNA of the original Belgian format is still present: the idea of being lost and trying to work out where you are. To this we added elements of strategy, giving the players more opportunities to mislead one another, forcing them to make difficult decisions, keep secrets, form alliances and ultimately allowing the players to decide who was at risk of elimination in each episode. Pitting the players more directly against one another transformed the show from a game about geography into a strategic, social competition, more accessible to an American audience and ultimately a more dramatic and exciting reality competition show.

The first season of the U.S. version of “Traitors” featured a mix of reality TV personalities and civilians, but quickly pivoted to an all–celebrity lineup. “Destination X” features a mix of reality personalities and civilians. Is the hope to keep that kind of combo? And is that kind of blend becoming more important in today’s reality competition landscape?

I believe that there’s a real benefit in the mix between civilians and established reality personalities. With “Destination X,” we wanted to do a couple of things. Firstly, discover and get to know some amazing new reality personalities that we’ll see on our screens for years to come. We have some brilliant characters in this season that are new, unique and surprising. Secondly, we wanted to see how some of the established reality faces might react to this incredible adventure. It was an opportunity to see some familiar faces taken out of their comfort zones and challenged in totally new ways. I think that this combination is a very valuable tool — it gives viewers the chance to meet some new favourites, while still giving them the comfort of some old friends dropping in.

What’s the game or competition series that hooked your interest in the format as a viewer and led to you pursuing a career in it?

I grew up on the original “Big Brother” and then made that show for many years here in the U.K. It was such a groundbreaking show and has survived the test of time like nothing else. Many of the production techniques that we still use today came from “Big Brother.” The lure of the genre for me lies in the way that people react to difficult situations. The entertainment can often be in the competition, but for me the greatest interest lies in the social politics, relationships people make, what people will do when faced with a dilemma and how far people will go to win. We used all of these levers in “Destination X” to create the most dramatic and engaging show possible.

What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?

“Slow Horses” [AppleTV+], [a] British spy thriller; “The Glass Dome” [Netflix], [a] Scandi noir, and if you like tricky puzzles and social strategy, the U.K. version of “Genius Game” is worth a look.

What’s your go-to comfort watch, the film or TV show you return to again and again?

I genuinely don’t have one; I find comfort in new seasons of my favourites though. I’m very excited for the next [season of] “Stranger Things” [Netflix]!

WASHINGTON — President Trump issued a series of pardons on Wednesday, awarding them to a former New York congressman, a Connecticut governor, a rapper known as “NBA YoungBoy,” a labor union leader and a onetime Army officer who flouted safety measures during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump’s actions mixed his willingness to pardon prominent Republicans and other supporters, donors and friends with the influence of Alice Marie Johnson, whom Trump recently named his pardon czar after he offered her a pardon in 2020.

He commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, a former Chicago gang leader serving a life sentence at a supermax prison in Colorado. Hoover was first imprisoned in connection with a murder in 1973, and was convicted of running a criminal enterprise in 1998, but later renounced his criminal past and petitioned for a reduced sentence. He remains incarcerated on state charges.

Louisiana rap artist NBA YoungBoy, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden and whose stage moniker stands for “Never Broke Again,” also received a Trump pardon.

In 2024, he was sentenced to just under two years in prison on gun-related charges after he acknowledged having possessed weapons despite being a convicted felon. Gaulden also pleaded guilty to his role in a prescription drug fraud ring in Utah.

Gaulden’s and the other pardons were confirmed Wednesday evening by two White House officials who spoke only on condition of anonymity to detail actions that had not yet been made public.

In a statement posted online, Gaulden said, “I want to thank President Trump for granting me a pardon and giving me the opportunity to keep building — as a man, as a father, and as an artist.”

He said this “opens the door to a future I’ve worked hard for and I am fully prepared to step into this,” and thanked Johnson.

Trump has spent the week issuing high-profile pardons. Video released by a White House aide showed Johnson in the Oval Office on Tuesday, as Trump called the daughter of Todd and Julie Chrisley of the reality show “Chrisley Knows Best” to say he was pardoning them.

Their show spotlighted the family’s extravagant lifestyle, but the couple was convicted of conspiring to defraud banks in the Atlanta area out of more than $30 million in loans by submitting false documents Their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, addressed the Republican convention last summer and had long said her parents were treated unfairly.

Also Wednesday, Trump pardoned James Callahan, a New York union leader who pleaded guilty to failing to report $315,000 in gifts from an advertising firm and was about to be sentenced.

And the president pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, a Republican who served from 1995 to 2004 and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for charges related to concealing his involvement in two federal election campaigns.

He also pardoned Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who resigned from Congress after being convicted of tax fraud. Grimm won reelection in 2014 despite being under indictment for underreporting wages and revenue at a restaurant that he ran.

Grimm eventually resigned after pleading guilty and serving eight months in prison. Last year, Grimm was paralyzed from the chest down when he was thrown off a horse during a polo tournament.

Yet another Trump pardon was issued for Army Lt. Mark Bradshaw, who was convicted in 2022 of reporting to work without undergoing a COVID-19 test.

Alice Marie Johnson was convicted in 1996 on eight criminal counts related to a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking operation. Trump commuted her life sentence in 2018 at the urging of celebrity Kim Kardashian West, allowing for Johnson’s early release.

Johnson then served as the featured speaker on the final night of the 2020 Republican National Convention, and Trump subsequently pardoned her before more recently naming her his pardons czar.

Weissert writes for the Associated Press.

HOLLYOAKS legend Jamie Lomas has signed up for BBC’s Celebrity MasterChef after quitting the Channel 4 soap.

Jamie, 50, is best known for his long-running role as bad boy Warren Fox – but now he’s trading street brawls for saucepans in the hit cooking competition.

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Filming has already wrapped, and insiders say viewers will get to see a very different side to the actor.

A source told The Sun: “Jamie was looking to do something where fans could meet the real him – not just Hollyoaks hardman Warren Fox!

“He’s actually quite good in the kitchen and he’s really competitive too. It’s already been filmed but he’s not telling anyone how far he got.”

Grace Dent will be judging alongside John Torode, replacing Gregg Wallace after he was accused of “lewd and inappropriate behaviour” on the MasterChef set.

Jamie will join the likes of Love Island star Chris Hughes, Blue singer Antony Costa, Corrie actress Katie McGlynn and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Ginger Johnson when the hit show returns later this year. 

The BBC has been contacted for comment.

Jamie has also made headlines for his offbeat acting choices, including a divisive role in Jafaican, the Peter Andre-fronted film that raised eyebrows among critics and fans alike.

While the soap star hasn’t come under fire, Peter wears a dreadlock wig and puts on a Jamaican accent in toe-curling scenes.

Jamie is set to appear in a film alongside Katie Price too, where he plays Jack The Ripper.

And he’s going to make a shock return to Hollyoaks, as excitement for its 30th anniversary ramps up.

Jamie quit the soap last year after a stint spanning almost two decades.

Viewers watched his character Warren flee abroad after leaving Mercedes McQueen behind with her children, unwilling to force them all to live on the run.

Jamie briefly returned last month for a flashback episode, which we were first to reveal

But will return for ANOTHER short stint on the show, which will no doubt delight fans.

A source told us: “Jamie’s returning for a limited stint later this month. 

“He loves the show and could fit it in so jumped at the chance. It will see

“Warren return to the village in the present day but who will he come face to face with and what will happen? 

“It’s definitely going to be a treat for fans.”

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TYSON FURY’S popular Netflix reality show could be the unlikely key to securing a fight with Anthony Joshua.

The father-of-seven and childhood sweetheart wife Paris starred in a nine-part fly-on-the-wall series called At Home with the Furys.

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It culminated in Fury’s December 2022 victory over Derek Chisora – but much has happened since then.

Fury faced ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou in October 2023 – surviving a knockdown to win a controversial split-decision.

He then twice lost to Oleksandr Usyk on points before announcing his retirement in January, a month after defeat in the rematch.

Fury was spotted filming with Netflix in March, meaning the next series could document his two losses to Usyk and subsequent retirement.

The Gypsy King also looks set to walk away from a huge Battle of Britain bout against Joshua.

But, Fury has started to tease a comeback with glimpses of his return to training while the success of his series could factor into his decision to fight again.

Netflix bosses will be keen to centre a series around Fury’s preparation for what would be the nation’s biggest-ever fight.

And with the streaming service now in the boxing business – they could even make a play to broadcast the mega-bout.

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CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS

YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul had 100 MILLION watch his fight in November with Mike Tyson – who controversially made a return aged 58.

The stream crashed amid the demand and Netflix also home to Katie Taylor’s July 11 trilogy against Amanda Serrano.

Joshua, 35, and Fury, 36, are both exclusive to DAZN per the deals their promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren signed.

But DAZN gave permission for Irish star Taylor, 38, to rematch and beat Serrano, 36, on Paul’s undercard.

It would take quite some convincing for DAZN to allow a similar pass for AJ and Fury but the streaming giants are making an aggressive push in live sports.

They have exclusive UK rights to the WWE and Monday Night Raw in America while also pushing to take over UFC coverage from ESPN.

In March, Chris Mannix reported that Netflix were “aggressively” targeting the rights for Joshua vs Fury.

Another was Canelo Alvarez’s September undisputed fight against unbeaten American Terence Crawford.

Netflix were on board for the super-fight, planned for the Las Vegas Raiders’ 65,000-seat, £1.5BILLION stadium with UFC boss Dana Whiyte to promote.

But Saudi boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh has since revealed the fight is set for September 13 – the date of UFC 320.

And Alalshikh said it will be on pay-per-view with Riyadh Season – who have an exclusive deal with DAZN.

It suggests White and Netflix are now out of the fight.

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A REALITY TV legend has been left heartbroken by a second death, just days after losing her best friend. 

This week, Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace was left heartbroken at the “sudden” death of her close friend.

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The reality star, 46, said she was unable to “breathe” after her finding out that her good pal Chanel died in concerning circumstances in Bournemouth on Friday.

Aisleyne, 46, shared throwback photos of her and her friend during holidays together.

The former Big Brother star emotionally penned: “I can’t even breath, not you… not my precious gentle kind baby girl.

“F*** it let me come where you are, the world was beautiful with you in it, I can’t even, I love you.”

Now, she’s revealed that she’s had another heartbreaking loss, just days after losing her close friend.

The star took to social media to share a photo cradling her pet dog. 

In a tragic update, Aisleyne wrote: “Now my baby is dead too, f*** this world my heart can’t take no more. 

“Rip Charlie boy mummy loves you sooooooo much.” 

The heartbroken star shared another photo of the dog’s paw resting in her hand. 

It comes after reports that a woman in her 30s had died ‘suddenly’ at an address in Bournemouth town centre.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: “Officers attended and carried out enquiries at the scene.

“The woman’s death is not being treated as suspicious and her family has been informed.

“Our thoughts are with the woman’s loved ones at this difficult time.”

Two ambulances, a critical care car and around three police vehicles attended the scene.

In June 2024, Aisleyne was left heartbroken following the death of her best friend, Femi. 

Alongside a photo of the pair, she wrote: “Femi, Hyper, but my big brother for 30 years… I am so broken.”

While earlier this year Aisleyne also suffered her own health scare.

She issued a stark warning after she “nearly died” when she took fake Ozempic to lose two stone.

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Reality TV star and business mogul Kim Kardashian has testified before a French courtroom about her experience getting robbed at gunpoint in a Paris hotel.

Taking the witness stand on Tuesday, Kardashian confronted the suspects accused of tying her up and taping her mouth shut on October 3, 2016, while they stole more than $6m in jewellery.

The case concerns a group of about a dozen suspects known in French media as “les papys braqueurs”: the grandpa robbers. The group, many in their 60s and 70s, are part of a crime ring, according to prosecutors. One has died since the robbery took place, while the charges against another have been dismissed due to health concerns.

But Kardashian recounted the terror she felt as members of the group burst into her hotel room after a night at the Paris Fashion Week.

“We were leaving the next morning, so I was just packing up,” Kardashian said. “It was around three in the morning. I heard stomping up the stairs when I was in bed.”

She explained that she figured it was her older sister, Kourtney Kardashian, returning to the hotel room. But instead, it was a group of armed men, dressed as police officers and wearing balaclavas.

Waving a gun at her, one of the men asked her to surrender her $4m engagement ring, a gift from her then-husband Kanye West, a rapper now known as Ye.

“Then I heard one of the gentlemen forcefully say ‘Ring! Ring!’ in English, with an accent, pointing,” she said.

At one point, she said the robbers threw her onto the hotel bed. She was wearing a bathrobe at the time.

“I was certain that was the moment that he was going to rape me,” Kardashian explained. “I absolutely did think I was going to die.”

Her mind flashed to the idea of her sister coming home to find her body, she added. “I thought about my sister, thought she would walk in and see me shot dead and have that memory in her forever.”

But the robbers proceeded to restrain her with zip ties and duct tape. They told her she would be safe so long as she remained quiet.

“I have babies,” Kardashian, a mother of four, remembered thinking. “I have to make it home. They can take everything. I just have to make it home.”

Eventually, she was locked in the hotel room’s marble bathroom while the robbers made their escape. During her testimony, she explained that the suspects did not beat her during the attack.

“I was grabbed and dragged into the other room and thrown onto the floor, but wasn’t hit, no,” she said.

Eventually, Kardashian said she was able to use the bathroom sink to loosen the restraints on her hands. She hobbled downstairs, where she met with her stylist Simone Harouche, who had locked herself in a bathroom one floor below to call for help during the attack.

“She was beside herself. I’ve never seen her like that before,” Harouche said of Kardashian. “She just was screaming and kept saying, ‘We need to get out of here. We need help. What are we going to do if they come back?’”

The attack prompted the entertainment industry to adopt new procedures around security and social media posts, including through the delayed publication of certain images that might help robbers identify targets and locations.

Some critics, however, blamed Kardashian herself for her luxurious lifestyle and lack of on-hand security. The controversial fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, for instance, was quoted by the Reuters news agency as questioning Kardashian’s habit of posting photos of herself on social media.

“You cannot display your wealth and then be surprised that some people want to share it with you,” the late designer said.

That kind of commentary has sparked its own backlash, with some denouncing it as victim-blaming. Still, Judge David De Pas in Paris asked those involved if they had not made themselves targets.

“Just because a woman wears jewellery, that doesn’t make her a target,” Harouche said. “That’s like saying that because a woman wears a short skirt that she deserves to be raped.”

Kardashian added that she had a bodyguard in a separate hotel. “We assumed that, if we were in a hotel, it was safe, it was secure,” she said.

She added that she now keeps five or six guards around her. She also blamed the Paris attack for prompting a copycat robbery at her Los Angeles house.

“I started to get this phobia of going out,” Kardashian said. “This experience really changed everything for us.”

Tuesday’s appearance is expected to be the only time Kardashian testifies in the criminal case, which includes 10 defendants: nine men and one woman.

Five of the men face armed robbery and kidnapping charges that could result in life imprisonment. Others face lesser charges of being accomplices or possessing unauthorised firearms.

Prosecutors say the ringleader in the group was a 69-year-old man named Aomar Ait Khedache, nicknamed “Omar the Old”. He wrote a letter of apology that was read aloud in the court.

“I do appreciate the letter, for sure. I forgive you,” Kardashian replied, looking at Khedache. “But it doesn’t change the feelings and the trauma and the fact that my life was forever changed, but I do appreciate the letter, thank you.”

BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 13 (UPI) — The oil-rich Gulf countries, once Lebanon’s main supporters, now are making a cautious comeback after years of disengagement. This shift comes as Hezbollah has been significantly weakened, Iran’s regional influence has declined and a new Lebanese leadership has emerged, promising long-overdue reforms.

Lebanon has long depended on the financial support and investments of Gulf countries, particularly during times of economic hardship and political instability.

For decades, Gulf states — especially Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait — provided crucial aid and direct investments that helped Lebanon reconstruct after the 1975-90 civil war and the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, sustain its economy and support its banking sector.

However, in recent years, Hezbollah’s dominance, Iran’s expanding influence, and the Lebanese government’s failure to implement reforms prompted Gulf countries to withdraw their support.

The suspension of political and financial backing exacerbated Lebanon’s severe economic crisis, which began in 2019. Strained diplomatic ties further discouraged private investors, and tourism suffered a major blow.

The country was left increasingly isolated at a time when it most needed external assistance.

Change begins

That began to change last September, when Hezbollah suffered significant setbacks during a destructive war with Israel that broke out in support of Gaza in October 2023, and Iran started to lose its “Axis of Resistance.”

With Hezbollah’s influence substantially reduced, a breakthrough in Lebanon’s political deadlock followed. Former army commander Joseph Aoun was elected president and a new government was swiftly formed under Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a respected jurist.

Aoun and Salam have pledged to disarm all militias, reassert the state’s monopoly on arms and implement long-requested reforms — signals that the Gulf states welcome.

UAE’s decision last week to lift the travel ban and allow its citizens to visit Lebanon was a sign of warming relations and renewed willingness to engage.

On Monday, Kuwait announced that it will facilitate the return of its citizens to Lebanon, although they kept on visiting the country discretely during the past years. Saudi Arabia, which has snubbed Lebanon, may follow suit soon.

Qataris had no issue, as they did not join the Gulf countries in isolating Lebanon in 2021 and have kept on coming, according to an official Lebanese source.

The move to alleviate Gulf travel restrictions came after successive visits by President Aoun to urge Saudi, UAE and Kuwait leaders to help revive tourism in his country for such a move would generate immediate revenues.

A new reality

Aoun was keen to demonstrate that “there is a new reality” in Lebanon, and that there was “no need any more to continue isolating Lebanon and keeping the travel bans,” according to the official source.

The source said the security situation has improved a lot, despite Israel continuing airstrikes on alleged Hezbollah targets mainly in southern Lebanon beyond the Feb. 18 cease-fire deadline.

“These attacks do not threaten the whole country as was the case during the war,” he told UPI.

Lebanon has been experiencing a significant decline in tourist numbers, which dropped to 1.13 million people in December 2024 from 2.1 million in 2018 to due to political instability, security tensions, the ongoing economic crisis and the recent Israel-Hezbollah war.

Tourism revenues, which have been estimated at $5 billion annually in recent years, peaked at $8.6 billion in 2019.

To the Gulf countries, security was the main concern.

At Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport, strict security measures are now in place. New security chiefs have been appointed, advanced tools — including AI-powered systems — have been introduced, several airport staff linked to Hezbollah have been removed and smuggling attempts tied to the group, including a recent effort to move 22 kilograms of gold, have been foiled.

Restoring the image

The road leading to the airport has received a makeover. Hezbollah flags, banners and images of its leaders and Iranian figures were removed as part of a broader campaign targeting all political groups and aimed at restoring the capital’s image and promoting tourism.

Now, large posters welcoming visitors with messages of a “New Era” for Lebanon line the route from the airport.

Even though such steps — unthinkable just months ago — were significant, Saudi Arabia chose to assess the new security measures independently.

“We want things to be back to normal. We are waiting for the Saudis, who want to evaluate the security and political situation before taking a decision,” the official source said.

A Saudi delegation is expected to visit Beirut soon, potentially paving the way for the return of Saudi tourists to Lebanon before the Muslim Al Adha Eid in early June.

The source, however, discounted that the return of the Gulf tourists also was linked to disarming Hezbollah, saying that “the issue of Hezbollah weapons is moving slowly.”

According to Mohanad Hage Ali, an analyst and fellow at the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, if the Gulf countries’ re-engagement is “truly linked” to disarming Hezbollah, “it might be a long wait.”

Hage Ali told UPI that the increase in Gulf travel will positively impact Lebanon’s tourism this summer. However, any financial support or investments from the oil-rich countries would require Lebanon to implement necessary reforms, which “are currently stuck in [the Lebanese] parliament, awaiting U.S. pressure.”

Reform is slow

He added that “the reform process is slow and depends on international pressure,” expressing hope that reform laws would pass before summer and allowing for some support, particularly in the energy sector.

That’s why attracting back Arab, especially Gulf, tourists and “gaining their trust again,” became Lebanon’s “high priority,” according to Tourism Minister Laura El-Khazen Lahoud.

“We are working to address all the issues. … We are doing everything we can to ensure that the reforms are adopted,” Lahoud told UPI. “We want to put Lebanon back on track … to make sure that it regains the place it deserves on the international touristic map, but things don’t happen overnight.”

She expressed hope that Saudi Arabia will be encouraged and that other countries will lift their ban one after the other.

“Unfortunately, they have forgotten how beautiful Lebanon is with its rich history, diverse culture and fascinating nature,” she added.

BAFTA attendees were left less than impressed at the star-studded ceremony – with celebs caught trying to sneak out to grab nibbles.

The hours-long event kicked off at Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday, with stars donning stunning looks to celebrate the biggest and best of British TV.

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However, upon arrival, some stars were left ravenous as they were plied with drinks but next to no food – leading some to take matters into their own hands.

The Sun can reveal Love Island All Stars Gabby Allen and Ekin-Su were all spotted trying to get out of the illustrious event.

They hoped to run to a nearby shop in order to get some snacks to nibble on while they sat through the ceremony.

However, they were told if they were to leave they wouldn’t be allowed back in, so had to go without.

Love Island has not been nominated for any awards at this year’s event, with the long-running ITV2 series being snubbed in favour of another rival TV dating show, Netflix’s Love Is Blind.

Dragons’ Den, The Traitors and The Jury: Murder Trial completed the list of nominees.

The award was won by The Jury: Murder Trial, which recreated an entire, real murder trial in order to give an insight into the judicial system.

After the event, the group will be treated to a slap-up meals and party in order to celebrate the winners of the annual bash.

The ceremony, which is airing on BBC1, has honoured Mr Bates and The Post Office with a string of awards.

Meanwhile, surprise snubs include The Traitors, who missed out on Reality, P&O Memorable moment, and Entertainment Performance to go home empty-handed.

Baby Reindeer capped off its awards sweep with Jessica Gunning taking home best supporting actress for her role as Martha in the gripping thriller.

Meanwhile Ruth Jones said goodbye to Nessa on Gavin and Stacey, taking home Best Female Comedy Performance.

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THE Queen’s son is reportedly in line to appear on the next series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Camilla Parker Bowles’ son, Tom, is said to be in talks to compete on the BBC dancing competition, according to the Mirror.

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Tom, 50, is a food writer and restaurant critic and has made regular appearances on MasterChef as a judge.

A source said: “Top of their wishlist is MasterChef star Tom. His name was also sounded-out last year but never materialised. Bosses hope they’ll have better luck this year.

“It would be a coup to sign someone with such a strong royal link. Maybe we could see Camilla and Charles in the audience?”

Made In Chelsea star and I’m A Celebrity winner Georgia ‘Toff’ Toffolo is also on the dance show’s radar.

A source told The Sun: “Georgia is in talks to join – she would bring glamour, poise and fun to the show. 

“She’s been a huge hit on all the telly shows she’s done and would be a popular contestant on Strictly.”

A celebrity confirmed for this year’s series is Apprentice star Thomas Skinner.

The Cockney entrepreneur, 34 — known for his catchphrase “Bosh!” — was first introduced to viewers on Lord Alan Sugar’s show in 2019.

A source said on Friday: “Thomas hasn’t any dancing experience, but he’s up for giving the competition his best shot.

“Strictly bosses are hoping he’ll get the dads watching. He has a massive following, especially with working-class blokes.

“He’s a huge football fan and enjoys pies and gravy. He’s not a luvvie at all.

“He’s bound to get his catchphrase ‘Bosh’ on to the show, too.”

Thomas, who has three kids with wife Sinéad, was asked previously about appearing on the BBC1 dance show.

He said: “My mum loves it, she’d love me to do that.”

And he recently underwent a body transformation, shedding weight and bulking up in the gym.

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Robert Barajas Jr. wakes up every morning at 2 a.m. to start making birria horneada — “ovened,” he says. “We used to make it in the ground, now we use conventional ovens in order to have that crispy taste.” It is never simmered, adds Barajas. His father started the business several years ago, serving birria de chivo much the way the family has been making it for three generations in Tecalitlán, Jalisco. Birrieria Barajas opened first as a puesto on Compton Boulevard and then launched a truck across the street, parked in front of Eddie’s Liquor every day but Monday, beginning at 6:30 a.m.

“When we started we wouldn’t even sell half a goat,” Barajas says. “By word of mouth and faith we started to get going week by week. There are a lot of people that make birria. But it has to be goat, and it’s supposed to have your special mole, a kind of rub, your own recipe. Maybe that’s why we have good clientele, because we make the rub, everything, every day.”

The most popular order is the plato birria de chivo con pistola, a bowl of the spicy, fall-off-the-bone goat meat bathed in consomé that comes with a shank and tortillas, onions, cilantro, radishes, chiles and lime wedges for composing your own tacos. Of course there are regular tacos, and there are tacos dorados, folded and fried, with cheese if you want quesabirria. Every order comes with a complimentary small fried bean taco, and the beans are a recipe from Barajas’ grandmother, who died earlier this year. “My grandmother told my dad to ‘give customers a nice gesture,’” Barajas says. And once a month Barajas Sr. still prepares montalayo, a fried ball of goat stomach with sausage-like tripe stuffing; order it chopped into a taco.

A new documentary on C5 – The Real Adolescence – looks at the rise in murder convictions for 12-17 year olds in the UK. We spoke to the mother of one young knife victim wanting to save lives

Nearly two years on from losing her son Mikey Roynon, mum Hayley Ryall is still in shock. Her beloved boy was just 16 when he went to a birthday party at a house in Bath, Somerset and didn’t come home.

For on June 10, 2023, the much-loved teenager was stabbed with a zombie-style knife and died from a single wound to his neck. Upwards of 70 kids had travelled to the party and Shane Cunningham, 16, was later detained for life for Mikey’s murder with his two friends, Leo Knight and Cartel Bushnell, also 16, jailed for manslaughter.

Mikey didn’t know the trio, who were pictured in court travelling from Wiltshire to Bath with what appeared to be sharp objects visible underneath their clothing. “I miss everything about him,” said Hayley. “I miss doing his washing, I even miss telling him off for being late.

READ MORE: Netflix’s Adolescence creators to turn ‘scariest film ever made’ into TV drama

“I miss the mess, I miss cooking for him, I miss that terribly. I miss the noise in the house. I miss Christmas because we don’t have that anymore, I miss birthdays, I miss everything.”

Hayley was working in Birmingham at the time of her son’s death and remembers looking at her phone to see 37 missed calls before one of Mikey’s friends got through to her – and her world changed forever. “Every day I wake up in the morning and I still feel in shock,” she said.

“People say time heals but it doesn’t get easier. I have a big wall up where I feel like if I talk about Mikey and go into his bedroom, I can feel him around me and he’s still here.”

Hayley described her son as “completely fearless” and “a lot of fun”. “He liked playing lots of jokes on me,” she smiled. “He was always excited, he was happy. He told me he loved me about 30 times a day. That was the last thing he said to me: ‘Love you Mum’.”

A district manager for Slimming World, the bereaved mother is appearing in tonight’s C5 documentary The Real Adolescence: Our Killer Kids, which explores the rise in murder convictions for 12-17 year olds in the UK, focusing on the experiences of families affected by these crimes. The hit Netflix four-part series that inspired the show’s name, Adolescence, recently attracted more than 24 million viewers.

“I thought it was very very good, i just felt like there could have been more towards the victim’s family,” said Hayley of the drama, which stars Stephen Graham as the father of a teenager accused of murder. “It was all about the boy that did it and his family but it didn’t show the devastation that causes to the community around that.”

The real life statistics are harrowing, with the number of children convicted of murder between 2016 and 2024 rising by more than 300 per cent. Information published by the Office for National Statistics earlier this year found teenage homicide victims in England and Wales were far more likely to have been stabbed to death than any other group – 83 per cent were killed with a sharp instrument.

Zombie-style knives and machetes, including the one that was used to kill Mikey, are defined as weapons with blades over eight inches in length, normally with a serrated cutting edge. Last year, they were banned in England and Wales.

Mum Hayley had thought knife crime was “something that happened in London, in big major cities, not where we live” before it affected her own family in devastating fashion. “I didn’t think you could go to a 16th birthday and have this happen,” she said. “The reason I’m speaking in the documentary is because I wish I’d known more two years ago – if speaking out saves one person’s life it’s worth it.

“If it gets the message out to stop one young person carrying a knife, it’s worth it. We need to stop the epidemic of knife crime.”

“We have to change how the next generation – it can’t keep getting worse,” Hayley added. “It is important because kids are killing kids.”

The TV show Adolescence explores how technology, particularly social media, influences the lives of young people. It explores toxic masculinity and online abuse and takes a wider look at the intense pressures faced by boys in Britain today.

“These kids have to deal with at such a young age with technology – it’s not the real world,” said Hayley. “We need to be checking in and asking ‘are you ok?’.”

In May last year, Mikey’s murderer Cunningham was ordered to serve a life sentence, with a minimum of 16 years behind bars, at Bristol Crown Court. His friend Bushnell was detained for nine years and Knight for nine years and six months.

“The court case was horrific to go through, to have to sit with those boys in a room,” said Hayley. “We were not even allowed to look at them. Getting justice for Mikey, it made a tiny difference but it won’t change the fact that it ruined our lives.”

Hayley and her partner Scott, a 48-year-old insurance manager, now run the charity Mikey’s World, which has teamed up with their local police force and ambulance service to install specialist ‘bleed’ kits around Mikey’s hometown. The charity is also partnering with a technology company to offer virtual reality headsets which allow people to step into the shoes of young victims of gang-related crime.

Produced by ITN Productions, The Real Adolescence: Our Killer Kids is available to view or stream tonight on 5, from 10pm

STACEY Solomon has spoken out about the future of her family reality show after it was revealed she had “regrets” over filming it.

The star, 35, broke her silence just minutes before the finale episode of Stacey & Joe aired on BBC One.

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Stacey told her fans she was about to tune in to the final instalment after putting hers and husband Joe Swash‘s youngest children, daughters Belle and Rose, to bed.

The mum-of-five also thanked viewers for their “amazing feedback” on the six-part fly-on-the-wall series.

In a video on Instagram, Stacey said: “I’m just sitting down, the girls have gone to bed and I’m getting ready to watch our show.

“I’ve just realised it’s the last episode tonight it’s gone so quickly I feel like it was only yesterday we were pooing ourselves about it coming out on the telly and now it’s at the end.

“But I just wanted to come on here quickly and say your messages and all of the things I get tagged in and all the comments and everything about the show have been so lovely. The feedback has been really amazing.”

She added: “I’ve enjoyed watching it back and then hearing from you and getting your feedback and stuff so I just wanted to say thank you, thanks for watching it. 

“I’m so glad you enjoyed it that’s all we ever wanted was to make people smile and enjoy watching it so thank you. Enjoy the last episode!”

Despite Stacey’s comments, the star has found herself facing a backlash after putting herself and her family on the small screen.

The series saw her balancing a booming career, including a new perfume range, while juggling parenthood with hers and Joe’s kids Rex, five, Rose, three, and Belle, two, plus her sons Zachary, 17, and Leighton, 12, from previous relationships.

But while showing the positives, it has also highlighted the spats Stacey has with Joe.

Last November, the couple were pictured during a tense tow in the street and it later emerged the fallout was sparked while filming Stacey & Joe.

The couple had just shot scenes in a counselling session and Stacey was left in tears.

She had booked the couples therapy session to support Joe, 43, following his ADHD diagnosis.

Joe had told the counsellor: “All I’m hearing is that I’m this huge problem in Stacey’s perfect life.

“I don’t hear no positive stuff about me.”

Viewers also watched Stacey grow increasingly irritated by Joe’s inability to carry out basic household tasks.

In one episode, he threw bleach into the washing machine to whiten his T-shirts.

Joe also raised eyebrows when he was shown returning home from a fishing trip five hours late, leaving Stacey to juggle their kids and an important work meeting.

Stacey & Joe has also been panned for sailing close to the wind on BBC advertising rules after the couple openly promoted everything from haircare ranges to their Instagram accounts on the show.

This week, a source close to the couple told The Sun: “Stacey is regretting signing up to do the show.

“She’s not used to the backlash they are getting as everything she touches normally turns to gold.”

Despite this, The Sun previously confirmed Stacey & Joe will be returning to the BBC for a second series.

On Tuesday night, fans were also treated to a “coming soon” teaser at the end of the episode.

In already recorded footage, Stacey and Joe were shown on a romantic country mini break, along with a trip to a theme park with their kids and on a big family skiing holiday.

The BBC is yet to confirm when the second series of Stacey & Joe will air.

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Viewers are being given another chance to see the inner workings of the Solomon-Swash household.

Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash are bringing the chaos of Pickle Cottage back to our screens as their hit BBC reality show Stacey And Joe has officially been renewed for a second series. The fly-on-the-wall docuseries, which first aired in April, gave fans an unfiltered look at the couple’s hectic home life with their children, ducks, and two dogs in their Essex countryside retreat.

After six episodes of parenting mayhem, heartfelt moments, and the odd bit of DIY, the BBC has now confirmed that filming is already under way for round two. In the first series viewers watched Solomon, 35, celebrate a huge milestone as she picked up a National Television Award for her decluttering series Sort Your Life Out.

Meanwhile Swash, 43, opened up about navigating life with an ADHD diagnosis. The new series promises more candid moments, including a family getaway with the couple’s growing brood.

In a joint statement, Stacey and Joe said: “The biggest thank you to every single person who watched the first series of Stacey And Joe… We’ve been so grateful for all the lovely messages and we’re so excited to bring out another series with the BBC.”

The couple have been together since 2016 after meeting six years earlier on I’m A Celebrity, where Joe was co-hosting the spin-off and Stacey went on to win the jungle crown. They got married in a beautiful ceremony at Pickle Cottage in 2022.

Between them, they’re parents to Rex, 5, Rose, 3, and Belle, 2 – plus Stacey’s sons Zach and Leighton from previous relationships, and Joe’s eldest, Harry.

BBC’s Head of Documentaries, Clare Sillery, shared her excitement over the renewal, saying: “We are delighted to be working with the Solomon Swash family and [production company] Optomen once again, on what already promises to be an incredibly exciting second series. It’s been great to see how viewers have taken Stacey, Joe, their kids and beloved pets to their hearts.”

Charlotte Brookes, Head of Popular Factual at Optomen, added: “We’re thrilled with how Series 1 performed and delighted to be able to continue filming the next chapter for Stacey and Joe, and their ever-growing family at Pickle Cottage.”

Stacey And Joe will return to BBC One with another six hour-long episodes. A release date has yet to be announced.

This comes after a source recently revealed that the couple found letting cameras in to their life behind-the-scenes more difficult than expected. The pair have admitted to starting marriage therapy after seeing issues in their relationship play out on screen.

An insider told OK! : “They underestimated how difficult it was going to be doing this reality show and having cameras around, and watching it back hasn’t been the easiest thing. The pressures of all the kids and work while balancing their relationship has been hard, they won’t deny that.

“They’re going to therapy because they love each other and would never want to get to the point where they don’t want to be together anymore. Yes, there have been ups and downs and it’s been quite a rollercoaster – but they know there’s no shame in therapy and both realise it’s the best thing for their relationship and to iron out their issues.”

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