RAQUELLE Gracie was in good spirits today after Hope’s X Factor exit last night.
“We knew it was our time to go,” she told me.
The girl band were up until 4am today, packing their bags at The X Factor house in north London.
They’re spending tonight in a hotel before appearing on GMTV tomorrow morning.
“The future is wide open for us now,” maintained Raquelle.
“We were pretty sure we’d be going this week, so we made sure that we enjoyed every minute.
“I’ve had an amazing time with these girls. It’s been an incredible journey – and we’re sticking together.”
She accepted the other four acts were just too strong for Hope last night.
Author: ianwylie
SIR Derek Jacobi has never made any secret of his ambition to play a guest role in Coronation Street.
So, naturally, I spoke to him about it again in an interview earlier this week.
He takes the lead in a new ITV1 adaptation of The Old Curiosity Shop, to be screened at Christmas.
Former Corrie star Bradley Walsh co-stars as Mr Liggers.
I asked Sir Derek if he was any closer to achieving his soap ambition.
The scene was a small group interview at ITV Network Centre in London.
He wondered if I was a Coronation Street fan.
As you can hear from the short interview extract below, it appears everyone in the room was.
EIGHT more interviews yesterday, two Christmas films and it already feels like Boxing Day.
Among those I met up with was Life Begins and Have I Got News For You star Alexander Armstrong – known as Xander.
He’s among the cast members in ITV1’s big festive comedy drama, Christmas At The Riviera.
He also plays Audrey fforbes-Hamilton’s nephew Adam in the long-awaited one-off return of BBC1’s To The Manor Born.
A total of 21 episodes of the classic sitcom were screened between 1979 and 1981.
The Good Life star Penelope Keith played Audrey, with Peter Bowles as Richard DeVere and Angela Thorne as Marjory Frobisher.
Xander explained: “Adam has some sort of dodgy past that we don’t really know about.
“He’s come back and they’re going to try and make a farmer of him, so he’s working on the estate.
“He has a lovely time trying to flirt very hard with Angela Thorne’s character, Marjory.”
A crime wave hits Cranford in this Sunday’s near perfect episode of BBC1’s costume drama hit.
“We shall have to put shutters on the shop, like you see in Manchester,” declares store co-owner Mrs Johnson.
Some 7.9m viewers watched last weekend’s visit to the Cheshire village, with 3.2m for the teatime repeat of the first episode.
That Cranford debut had already attracted 8m viewers for its original screening.
Episode three is simply not to be missed.
It begins in November 1842 and takes in Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Shrove Tuesday.
The relationship between Miss Matty (Dame Judi Dench) and Mr Thomas Holbrook (Michael Gambon) moves centre stage.
There’s much more to savour, including scenes between Mr Carter (Philip Glenister) and young Harry Gregson, played by the talented Alex Etel.
IT’S the time of year when the TV world goes mad.
Or perhaps that should be, just a little madder than usual.
For the last month or so, the channels have been hosting launches and interviews for this year’s Christmas programmes.
At the same time, there are dozens of interviews and screenings linked to new series coming to a TV near you in January.
My notebook and digital recorder are full to bursting.
And there’s plenty more to come over the next fortnight.
There’s a lot to look forward to in the first few weeks of 2008.
But, for now, we’ll stick to Christmas.
Today is the day the BBC release their official programme information for the period from Dec 22 to Jan 4.
HEARTBEAT fans got a bit of a shock last night.
The cosy Sunday night drama set in the 1960s had a brand new look.
Episode three – Night Mail – delivered an unwelcome change.
Our old favourites appeared starkly in focus and not so cosy at all.
The whole look and feel of the series appeared to have been ruined.
Had ITV changed the filming technique just three episodes in to a new series?
Was this High Definition with disastrous results?
Happily, it was a one-off error.
First thing this morning I asked ITV Yorkshire what was going on.
THE postman knocked once today with something rather special.
It’s just three minutes and 27 seconds long, but packed full of joy.
Gene Hunt, played by Philip Glenister, rides again in the first promo DVD for BBC1’s Ashes To Ashes.
Screen grabs are strictly forbidden.
But I can give you a flavour of what we’ll all see in a matter of months.
Mild spoilers ahead for those who want to avoid:
Emerging from his 1981 office, Gene says, as we knew he would: “Right, let’s fire up the Quattro.”
Happily, there’s no sign that the passage of time has mellowed DCI Hunt.
He tells one bad lad: “Anything you say will be taken down, ripped up and shoved down your scrawny little throat till you choke to death.
“Gene Hunt: Chapter one, verse two.”
FANS of The Royal will be intrigued by ITV1’s latest soap.
As the title suggests, The Royal Today is set in the modern day.
A total of 50 initial episodes have been filmed – and could be followed by hundreds more.
I was at the series launch yesterday, where we saw the first two half-hour episodes.
The drama arrives on screen in early January and will be shown every weekday afternoon.
The theme tune is the same as that used for 1960s-set The Royal (pictured).
As is the building in Scarborough used to portray the exterior of St Aidan’s Royal Free Hospital.
But right next door is the new modern Middleditch Wing.
Thanks to computer imaging, it’s actually ITV Yorkshire’s Leeds HQ placed on screen, with added NHS signage.
THE murder count is set to rise in Midsomer.
Although schedules have yet to be finalised, it looks like a double treat is on the way for fans of John Nettles.
Two new episodes are set to be screened – one at Christmas and one at New Year. *(See update below)
And each one features a former Coronation Street star.
In Shot At Dawn, a family feud dating back to World War One comes to a head in Midsomer Parva after the unveiling of a war memorial.
Mayor Dave Hicks, played by Brian Capron, blames an upper crust family for the death of his grandfather, shot for cowardice at the Somme.
Brian was, of course, Corrie killer Richard Hillman.
He was also the first to be voted off the current series of Strictly Come Dancing.
That’s due to be followed by Death In A Chocolate Box.
THERE is a touch of irony about the filming of hit BBC1 costume drama Cranford.
Author Elizabeth Gaskell was raised in Knutsford and later lived in Manchester.
She wrote about the railway coming to Cheshire – and re-named Knutsford as Cranford.
But the original location could not be used for filming.
“I was fleetingly sad,” screenwriter Heidi Thomas (pictured below) told me.
“But it’s entirely fitting.
“The railway did come to Cranford and it changed it so much that we couldn’t film there.”
As explained in previous Cranford blogs and in this scene-setting feature, Lacock in Wiltshire stood in for Knutsford.
West Wycombe Park provided the exterior of Lady Ludlow’s Hanbury Court.
Many other locations are also used during the five-part Sunday night serial.
Life of Wylie 