Disgraced GMP officers sacked after probe into racist WhatsApp group where members called themselves 'the gods of north Manchester'

Over the past few years we've all become more aware of our well-being and our mental health, and a change of scenery is often all it takes to get us back on track. And a week on the inland waterways certainly helps you change scenery. Constantly, in fact.

A grandmother killed in a dog attack is likely to have been trying to break up a fight between two American bulldogs before one turned on her, an inquest has heard.

Roz is back!

EXCLUSIVE: UTA has signed Young Mazino in all areas. The agency will help bolster Mazino’s career across film, television, and more.

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! South Africa star Paul Burrell has sparked a new feud outside of the camp with Loose Women star Janet Street Porter.The 76 year old panellist hit out at the former Royal butler's sensational claims in the jungle following the jam-packed launch episode.

The Black List and the GM Incubator Fund have today announced the launch of a new Writer-Driven Shorts Program, which will provide two emerging, diverse filmmakers with $100,000 grants enabling production on shorts based on their feature script. General Motors will provide both selected filmmakers with vehicles for use in their shorts, which will ultimately be submitted to major festivals and aim for 2024 awards consideration.

A video salute from James Cameron to John Fithian launched CinemaCon Tuesday, with the director offering a big “thanks on behalf of the worldwide creative community for your passionate dedication to championing the cause of the theatrical experience.”

MPA chief Charlie Rivkin celebrated a rebounding box office across genre and geographies in his annual speech today, telling exhibitors that his group’s major push is to get more films on more screens by encouraging production, tax breaks and “the freedom and agency” globally “for this great industry to do what it does best.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Peri Gilpin is the latest original “Frasier” cast member to join the series’ revival at Paramount+. Gilpin will guest star in an episode of the series, reprising the role of Roz, whom she played throughout the original show’s 11-season run on NBC. As previously announced, Kelsey Grammer will reprise the role of Frasier Crane, with Jack Cutmore-Scott, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Toks Olagundoye, Jess Salgueiro, and Anders Keith also starring. Bebe Neuwirth will guest star in one episode as Dr. Lilith Sternin. The revival series will take place in Boston, which was the setting for “Cheers.” The official logline states, “Frasier is off to a different city with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge, and an old dream or two to finally fulfill. Frasier has re-entered the building!”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Jordan Fisher savors those 7 p.m. showtimes. It’s not that there’s a huge difference on the nights that Broadway’s revival of “Sweeney Todd” starts at 8 p.m. But the extra hour of freedom after curtain call at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre means he gets more time to spend with his family. “I’ll get to bed an hour early and get up with my son so we can hang and have a little bit more time to chill in the morning,” Fisher says over espresso at a swanky bar in Manhattan’s theater district. He got married during the pandemic, and the couple welcomed their first child in last June. “A lot of my mornings are dictated by how late I go to bed. With a schedule like this, we go to work hours after people clocked out of their offices. My body has to get used to it.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director J.K. Rowling is well aware many “Harry Potter” fans intend to boycott Max’s upcoming television series adaptation due to her involvement as an executive producer on the show. The Warner Bros. Discovery streamer officially announced the series on April 12, confirming each book in Rowling’s series will be adapted into a full season of television. A new cast of actors will be assembled to take on the roles of Harry, Ron, Hermione and more. Rowling has been embroiled in controversy for several years now due to her controversial statements on gender, many of which have been slammed for being anti-trans. “Dreadful news, which I feel duty bound to share,” Rowling wrote on Twitter in reaction to backlash against the new “Harry Potter” television series. “Activists in my mentions are trying to organize yet another boycott of my work, this time of the ‘Harry Potter’ TV show. As forewarned is forearmed, I’ve taken the precaution of laying in a large stock of champagne.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor During the pandemic, studios experimented with shrinking the amount of time that their films screened exclusively in cinemas, while spending oceans of money to launch streaming services. But the debt they racked up has sent their share prices plummeting and, now, studios are making more movies for theaters and cutting back on their streaming budgets. CinemaCon, the annual exhibition industry showcase that is unfolding this week in Las Vegas, couldn’t be happier about the shift in strategy. John Fithian, the head of the National Association of Theatre Owners, the trade group behind the show, touted the new state of play during his speech to the convention, while praising Apple and Amazon for embracing the big screen with movies like “Air” and the upcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Napoleon.” Both of these companies will reportedly spend more than $1 billion on theatrical films.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Endeavor has struck a deal to sell Florida-based sports education institution IMG Academy to private equity firm BPEA EQT for $1.25 billion. The all-cash transaction, done in partnership with Nord Anglia Education, is expected to close in Q3. Located in Bradenton, Florida, IMG Academy was founded in 1978 as the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. The academy was purchased by IMG in 1987 and eventually expanded its offerings to include golf, soccer, baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, track & field and volleyball. Endeavor acquired IMG in 2014, with ownership of IMG Academy included as part of that deal.

Trinidad Barleycorn International sales company Andana Films has boarded “Al Djanat – The Original Paradise” by Franco-Burkinabe director Chloé Aïcha Boro. The film had its international premiere at Visions du Réel, in Nyon, Switzerland, after a world premiere at Fespaco in February. Selected in the international competition in Nyon, the documentary was pre-sold to Canal+ International for a broadcast on the African continent. For her fourth documentary, produced by Les Films de l’œil Sauvage, Boro has, for the first time, turned the camera on her own family, capturing life in their big courtyard surrounded by several small houses in Dédougou, Burkina Faso, where she grew up before emigrating to France. Filmed up close, over a period of five years, the animated square makes the viewer feel as welcome as at home.

Ethan Shanfeld FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver is exiting ABC News as The Walt Disney Company ramps up layoffs, Variety has confirmed. ABC News will hold onto the FiveThirtyEight brand with plans to streamline the statistics-driven news and analysis site. The network plans to create a more efficient structure for FiveThirtyEight leading into the 2024 presidential election and beyond. Silver sent a message to his team in a company Slack channel warning that the Disney layoffs would impact FiveThirtyEight, and that Silver is not planning to return after his contract ends. Silver said in a tweet, “Disney layoffs have substantially impacted FiveThirtyEight. I am sad and disappointed to a degree that’s kind of hard to express right now. We’ve been at Disney almost 10 years. My contract is up soon and I expect that I’ll be leaving at the end of it.”

K.J. Yossman Think of a British TV series about the royal family that launched in 2016 and features some of Britain’s best writing and acting talent. No, not “The Crown” but “The Windsors,” the royal comedy show from Channel 4 that is poised to steal “The Crown’s” well, crown. A soap opera-style sitcom, it shows Charles, William, Harry and the rest of the royals as they’ve never been seen before. (Seriously. The first season finale saw Camilla, played by Haydn Gwynne, planting a bomb in the basement of Buckingham Palace to ensure her path to the throne.) Where “The Crown” offers a sober, historical take on the royals, winning both critical plaudits and awards in the process, “The Windsors” is a cheeky younger sibling that has spent its life in the shadows. A spare to the heir, if you will. Created by writers Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffrie (“The Kumars,” “Spitting Image”), “The Windsors” launched seven years ago with comedy king Harry Enfield in the lead as a vain and infantilized Charles while Gwynne (who has also appeared in “The Crown” as a lady in waiting to the Queen) plays Camilla as a cartoon villain. So far the comedy has spawned three seasons, three specials (including a feature-length coronation episode set for next month) and even a stage show. A fourth season is in the works.

K.J. Yossman Tom Holland-fronted short film “Last Call” is set to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, Variety can exclusively confirm. The short is directed by his younger brother Harry Holland and also features Lindsay Duncan (“Birdman”). “Last Call” tells the story of Kate, a desperate mother who is trying to reconnect with her son. “Navigating an obvious void, Kate will finally have the chance to ask the questions that have haunted her past, and will decide her future,” reads the logline. The film is in part an exploration of mental health and Harry Holland did extensive research, consulting with charities and individuals, as part of the project. It was co-written by Will South and produced by Marie-Elena Dyche (“The Blind”).

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Emperor of Ocean Park,” the best-selling novel by Stephen L. Carter, is being adapted into a TV series at MGM+. MGM+ (formerly Epix) has ordered 10 episodes of the show. The order brings the book’s long road to the screen to near completion. It was originally optioned back in 2001 ahead of the book publishing. Multiple attempts have since been made to adapt the book into a film and later a television series, though none of those projects have moved forward until now. “Emperor of Ocean Park is much more than a murder mystery,” said Michael Wright, head of MGM+. “While it is an engrossing whodunit in its own right, it also explores important themes of middle-and-upper-class Black identity, making it an outstanding addition to MGM+’s slate of engaging and thought-provoking original series.”

Two more police officers have been disciplined following an investigation into a 'racist' police WhatsApp group, it has emerged.

A police officer who was forced out of Greater Manchester Police following an investigation into a 'racist' WhatsApp group has said he has been unfairly punished.

Officers made four arrests following a drugs bust at a block of flats in Wigan on Wednesday morning (April 5). Three men and a woman are in custody to be questioned in relation to the supply of Class A drugs.