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OVER AND OUT
Popular BBC cop drama axed after just one series following co-stars’ shock affair
But the Beeb says there is plenty of drama coming up on-screen
SOMETIMES real life is stranger than fictional telly storylines.
And that seems to be the case with BBC cop drama, Better.
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I can reveal that despite there being plenty more rope in the saga, it has been axed after one series.
The five-part thriller starred Andrew Buchan as suave but ruthless Irish gangster Col McHugh and Leila Farzad as the corrupt Detective Inspector Lou Slack, who regularly received tip-offs and bribes from McHugh.
But much more was made of the lead actors’ off-screen relationship.
They hit the headlines when it was alleged they were having an affair, leaving Buchan’s wife, Emmerdale actress Amy Nuttall, devastated.
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A TV insider said: “Better did good business, averaging almost four million viewers an episode, and there was an appetite to learn more about the tangled lives of McHugh and Slack. But the BBC is keen to bring a slew of new shows which means that, unfortunately, some popular dramas have to make way.”
Actor Andrew was also unable to make things work at home.
A source told The Sun last August he and Amy had attempted to patch things up but he had now moved out the family home.
It came six months after we first revealed he had dumped Amy for Leila.
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Then in July we told how Amy had issued an ultimatum to Andrew, with strict rules if they were to get back on track.
Amy had become suspicious when she found sexy lingerie shortly before Christmas that was not in her size.
Crisis-hit BBC sticks by Giovanni Pernice despite three Strictly stars holding tearful summit over his behaviour
Meanwhile the Beeb says there is plenty of drama coming up on-screen, despite Better’s demise.
Among the new commissions are Jenna Coleman starring in thriller The Jetty, the return of Blue Lights — with Casualty stalwart Derek Thompson joining the cast — and crime drama This City Is Ours.
Con so suave as Tom
CONNOR Swindells gets amorous in Noel Fielding's comedy about legendary highwayman Dick Turpin.
The actor, who rose to fame as Adam Groff, the bully turned love-interest of Ncuti Gatwa's Eric in Netflix series Sex Education will appear as sword-wielding nobleman Tommy Silvesides.
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The dashing newcomer bursts on the scene to challenge Dick to a duel in the Apple TV+ drama.
He seems to have an insane charisma that women find irrestible . . . but there’s something unmistakably off about the wannabe highwayman.
The new episode of The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin will be available to stream this Friday.
Anj top of the cops
ANJLI Mohindra is used to playing baddies in BBC crime dramas.
In Vigil, she was a submarine medical officer who falsified reports, and in Bodyguard a ruthless jihadi.
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Now she upholds the law – as Detective Grace Narayan in thriller series The Red King, on Alibi later this month.
It sees her probe the case of a teenager who vanishes in Wales.
Executive producer Davina Earl said: “Often with a lead procedural drama character, you think of the maverick cop who doesn’t play by the rules. But Grace is the cop that plays by the rules. That causes conflict as she struggles to know when to do the wrong thing for the right reason.”
Anjli added: “She’s like a dog with a bone, she just won’t give up.”
Swear fest
NEW dark comedy thriller The Passenger got in hot water for having too many f-bombs.
Wunmi Mosaku, who plays Riya Ajunwa in the show, which airs from March 24 at 9pm on ITV1, said: “I added a few too many at one point, and we got informed, ‘we’re only told nine f***s a page’.”
Ross's role is a curse
ROSS KEMP’s kids are picking up on his EastEnders ways.
The soap actor, who played hardman Grant Mitchell on the BBC One series for ten years, recently let out his gruff side in front of twin daughters Ava and Kitty, aged six – and he’s been paying the price.
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He told The Sunday Times Magazine: “I have to be very careful with my girls because they pick up on things very quickly – one of them called me a w****r the other day.
“She’d obviously heard me saying it while I was driving.”
And after returning for the funeral of Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor, he won’t rule out returning to the soap again.
He says: “EastEnders finds its way into most days, often it’s somebody calling me Grant.
“Would I go back? Never say never. I’ve been back twice.”
Facing phobia ins in clinic
SAUSAGE dogs, rats, sheep, and birds will feature as the weird and wonderful phobias tackled in a new Channel 4 series.
Six-parter The Fear Clinic flies people with debilitating phobias to a controversial new clinic.
The series, which is currently in production, sees them treated over 48 hours by specialist Dr Merel Kindt in her Amsterdam practice.
Cameras will capture the Dutch scientist and her team of phobia psychologists as they help neutralise fear memories by facing phobias head on, and with the use of a single fear-blocking pill.
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Anna Miralis, Channel 4’s senior commissioning officer, said: “This series offers hope to some extremely brave individuals who are willing to face their ultimate phobia.
“It will be a rollercoaster of emotion as we watch them potentially be freed of something that may have debilitated them for most of their lives.”
Coming to screens
THE team behind Fleabag are launching a new BBC comedy-drama.
Six-part series Dinosaur will tell the story of Nina, an autistic woman in her 30s – played by Ashley Storrie – and sister Evie, Kat Ronney.
The coming-of-age story, will air on BBC Three and iPlayer later this year.
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