He stepped down as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent after making derogatory remarks about contestants in private.
He’s been dropped by his publisher HarperCollins over allegations that he ‘harassed’ female members of staff and disinvited from speaking at Waterstones Children’s Book Festival in Dundee later this year.
Now, has best-selling author David Walliams been ditched by his long-term comedy partner Matt Lucas?
I ask because Lucas declines my invitation to come to the support of Walliams, and their joint podcast, Making A Scene, has not been broadcast for three months.
When it was launched a year ago, the publicity declared: ‘Listen or watch every Tuesday and Thursday.’
From January to October, it duly appeared twice a week. However, no new episodes have been broadcast since October, with no indication that it had been coming to an end.
In the podcast, the pair discuss on-screen life with each other and famous friends, who have included comedians Stephen Merchant, Jack Whitehall and Alan Carr, Harry Potter star Timothy Spall and television presenter Rob Rinder.
Has best-selling author David Walliams been ditched by his long-term comedy partner Matt Lucas?
In what could be the final episode, Walliams suggested, perhaps jokingly, that his working relationship with Lucas was over.
Doctor Who scriptwriter Russell T Davies asked the pair: ‘What’s the worst thing you’ve said to each other and meant it?’
Walliams sniggered: ‘Probably when I told you [Lucas] you were funny – because we shouldn’t lie.’
Walliams later ended the show with: ‘That is the end of not only this episode… but also our working relationship. In the unlikely event (I certainly didn’t) you enjoyed today’s episode, why not hit subscribe and write a review? You can lie… and say it was good, when it wasn’t.’
Walliams, 54, and Lucas, 51, met in the early 1990s, and went on to create the hit BBC show Little Britain. They parted ways professionally in 2011, but reunited for the podcast. During an appearance with ITV’s Lorraine Kelly, they teased the possibility of reviving Little Britain.
Walliams strongly denies allegations that he ‘harassed’ female members of staff, but declines to comment on the future of his podcast. Producer Platform Media declines to respond to requests for comment.
Is that Pugh? Young star’s outfit as Little Flo-Peep
Here’s Florence Pugh as you’ve never seen her. The Oscar-nominated star of Hollywood films such as Little Women and Oppenheimer has always loved dressing up, as this photo proves.
It was taken in 2014 during her final year at £60,000-per-year St Edward’s School in Oxford, where pupils were encouraged to wear fancy dress for a novelty ‘Leavers’ photo.
The restaurateur’s daughter, 30, went as Little Bo-Peep. To complete her outfit, she even took a live sheep with her.
Florence Pugh during her final year at £60,000-per-year St Edward’s School in Oxford, where pupils were encouraged to wear fancy dress for a novelty ‘Leavers’ photo
‘Flossie was the centre of attention,’ says a fellow pupil at ‘Teddies’, as the school is known. ‘No one could believe she took a sheep with her.
Normally, not even we were allowed to walk on the grass in the quad. And here was a sheep. It was outrageous and hilarious.’
The sheep was said to have belonged to her family, who live in Oxford.
Days after I revealed that Dame Ann Limb, who wrongly claimed to have earned a PhD, had left the Athenaeum Club – of which she was chairman until 2024 – I can disclose intriguing developments at City & Guilds, an institution which Limb, 72, continues to chair.
Now the subject of a Charity Commission investigation, City & Guilds has announced that its chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and chief financial officer Abid Ismail, will be absent from work ‘for a short period’.
The duo trousered £1.74million and £1.2million respectively after allegedly being given ‘incentives’ to sell part of the organisation. Meanwhile, Dame Ann’s been nominated for a peerage – by Sir Keir Starmer, of course.
The smart set’s talking about… Lord Coe girl’s polo match
Sebastian Coe hit the headlines when he arrived at the World Athletics Awards last year in Monaco with Lionel Richie‘s glamorous ex-wife, Diane.
The Olympic champion-turned- president of World Athletics is not, however, the only member of his family to have found love.
I hear his daughter, Alice Coe, has got engaged to a dashing polo player. She’s to wed former England captain Jack Richardson.
I hear Sebastian Coe’s, left, daughter, Alice, has got engaged to a dashing polo player. She’s to wed former England captain Jack Richardson, right
‘He proposed on the beach in the Caribbean during a New Year’s holiday,’ a friend tells me.
Jack, who launched a sports investment consultancy, was on holiday with Alice and her parents, Lord Coe, 69, and his first wife, Nicky McIrvine, 62, right.
Lord Coe’s girlfriend, Diane Alexander, was not with them. The American model and fashion designer, 58, was said to have been going out with the former Tory MP for some months. She was married to pop singer Richie, 76, for nine years until they split in 2004.
Hollywood star Rebecca Hall has taken aim at actors who claim they can’t watch themselves on screen
Rebecca ribs ‘rude’ Hollywood colleagues
Hollywood star Rebecca Hall has taken aim at actors who claim they can’t watch themselves on screen.
Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley and Tom Hardy are among the many stars who insist it’s too difficult.
‘I’m not good with it, but I’ve definitely reached a point where I feel it’s more self-indulgent to be, ‘No, no, I can’t possibly…’ ‘ says the Iron Man actress, 43. ‘There are so many people involved in making a thing and you get to know all those people. It just feels a bit rude to be like, ‘I couldn’t possibly watch it because I have so many opinions about myself.’
‘So I do watch it and get over that.’
Sir Ian ‘properly nervous’ after theatre tumble
More than 18 months since falling off the stage at London’s Noel Coward Theatre – suffering a snapped wrist and chipped vertebrae – Sir Ian McKellen admits the incident has left him more fearful about going out.
The 86-year-old was forced to withdraw from his role as Falstaff in Player Kings after his accident during a fight scene. ‘More than most old people, I’m aware where I put my feet when I’m out walking. I’m not shy of holding on to things. I think the accident has left me properly nervous about what can happen,’ he says.
Looking back on the accident in 2024, which saw him fall into the lap of a female audience member after slipping on stage, the actor reflects: ‘It confirmed what I knew before the accident, that my body was not what it was… it’s part of getting old: you do feel that what’s happening to your body is happening to somebody else, and yet it is you. It’s complicated and unpleasant.’
Dobson: We’re king and Queen of clutter
Queen guitarist Brian May and his wife, the actress Anita Dobson, were forced to move from their £7million home in London’s Kensington almost five years ago after a sewage flood destroyed countless treasured childhood photos and memorabilia.
The couple are, however, still lacking storage space at the sprawling 200-acre estate they bought in Windlesham, Surrey.
Queen guitarist Brian May and his wife, the actress Anita Dobson
‘We are two of the world’s greatest collectors of clutter in the universe,’ Anita tells me. ‘We have big rooms and even after they’re cleaned, after a week or two, they are jammed with stuff.’
The former EastEnders star, 76, adds: ‘People buy us stuff, which is lovely, and we don’t give them away, so we just keep them all. So we can’t downsize – not yet, anyway.’
How about this for a house price cut? I hear that billionaire John Caudwell has slashed a whopping £10million off his Knightsbridge mansion.
The Phones4U founder, 73, first listed the Art Deco-inspired Fonteyn Place for £65million in September 2024.
Close to Harrods, the house was owned by Dame Margot Fonteyn at the height of her fame at the Royal Ballet and was visited by Princess Margaret and fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
The former embassy of Panama, it boasts six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a cinema room, 12m swimming pool with waterfalls and your very own private spa.
How ‘destructive’ rival hurt Pascale’s career
She’s summarised her first job, which paid £1 per hour, as ‘ironing smalls and sheets’, but said she ‘never felt like giving up’.
Now, Lorraine Pascale has offered an intriguing glimpse into the very particular rivalries of the catwalk. ‘Certain people in the industry were quite destructive,’ says Pascale, 53, the first black British model on the cover of American Elle.
Pascale adds: ‘Certain models were quite destructive to other black models. Because it was normally only one black model on any job, certain black models didn’t want other black models to work.’
Pascale, who married businessman Dennis O’Brien in 2021, is now studying for a doctorate in psychology.
No wonder.
Lorraine Pascale, 53, the first black British model on the cover of American Elle
Stand-up comedian Romesh Ranganathan has become skilled at dealing with hecklers, but one managed to knock his confidence without raising his voice.
‘I was doing the first night [at the Hammersmith Apollo],’ he recalls. ‘It gets to the interval and like an idiot I looked at my phone and there’s a tweet saying, ‘At Romesh Ranganathan at the Apollo – not enjoying this at all’. I did the second half, I couldn’t tell you how that went. All I’m thinking about is this one guy… a complete car crash mentally.’
They’ve ruled our TV screens for more than 35 years, but Ant and Dec’s Geordie accents have left some I’m A Celebrity contestants scratching their heads.
Pop star Toyah, who was on the second series, claims the duo weren’t always easy to follow.
Speaking at the gala night of the play Gerry & Sewell at the Aldwych Theatre in London, Toyah tells me: ‘We did have to sit in the jungle and listen to them every morning and think, ‘What are they saying?”
