Douglas Ross could win Scots Tory leadership without a contest after right wing rival backs him

K.J. Yossman New research shows that there is a significant crew shortage in unscripted TV.The most acute shortages are in production management and senior editorial roles while the hardest to recruit were production coordinators, production managers, editors and series producers.As well as “too few” production coordinators entering the unscripted TV sector, the report also found the industry is “haemorrhaging” experienced production managers.The report was undertaken by government-backed industry body ScreenSkills in order to support the new Unscripted TV Skills Fund, which was launched last year.Among the findings in the report were an acknowledgement of “particularly acute” skills shortages amid crew with mid-level experience, challenges in recruitment and retainment across “all genres, roles and production hubs” and shortages across all career levels, suggesting specifically a problem with retainment.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFremantle and Italy’s Cinecittà have entered a five-year pact involving the continuous rental of six sound stages at the iconic studios, which are currently undergoing a major revamp.The deal “confirms Fremantle’s strategic decision to make some of its top international productions in Italy: a decision that finds the perfect and natural partner in Cinecittà,” Fremantle said in a statement.A radical revamp of Cinecittà,  which has been underway since May 2021, has been gaining traction with a rise in occupancy of its sound stages and backlot, realistic prospects for profitability, and new state-of-the-art filming facilities.The Cinecittà revamp is being conceived and carried forth by Nicola Maccanico, a former Warner Bros. and Sky Italia senior exec who has a mandate from Italy’s culture minister Dario Franceschini to turn the Rome studios into continental Europe’s top filming facilities thanks to a €300 million ($339) million) investment from the European Union’s post-pandemic recovery fund.

Cristiano Ronaldo netted his first goal of 2022 on Wednesday as Manchester United snapped out of a three-game winless run with an important 2-0 victory over Brighton.

Storm Dudley has been battering the country causing widespread disruption - and soon it will be Storm Eunice's turn to continue the chaos.

Ben Croll Fueled in no small part by international streamers looking to entrench their market share, production days skyrocketed across the European continent in 2021. But if the last year marked a gold rush for both service providers and content hungry viewers, independent producers have been feeling the squeeze.“It’s not a golden age when it comes to IP retention,” said Katharina Hiersemenzel, senior VP public policy of German mini-major Constantin Film.

Bae Suzy has officially dropped her new single ‘Satellite’, alongside its music video.The visual focuses on a woman, played by PROWDMON dance crew leader Monika from Mnet’s hit dance reality series Street Woman Fighter, as she run through the hallways of a decrepit, abandoned building. Bae does not appear in the video.‘Satellite’ was released today (February 17) at 6pm KST, alongside the video treatment.

DaBaby over an alleged unprovoked physical attack on him at a bowling alley in Los Angeles.Brandon Bills, whose real name is Brandon Curiel, is the brother of Danielle Leigh Curiel, whom DaBaby formerly dated and shares a daughter with.Bills claims that DaBaby (real name Jonathan Lyndale Kirk) is legally liable for physically assaulting him “suddenly and without warning” as he walked past the rapper on February 9 at Corbin Bowl.He also claimed that the incident caused him to endure “severe injury and pain” and left him “psychologically damaged”.DaBaby has publicly claimed that he acted in self-defence. He has yet to comment publicly on the lawsuit.The brawl, which was captured in a viral video shared by TMZ, shows Bills and DaBaby grappling and spilling onto bowling lanes before other people appear to attack Bills.Bills’ lawsuit, filed by lawyers Farid Yaghoubtil and Anthony Werbin, also names Corbin Bowl as a defendant.

Lil Wayne has shared details of his first live performance in the UK for 14 years.The rapper is set to return in the summer for an exclusive slot at Strawberries & Creem Festival, which takes place at Childerley Orchard in Cambridge from June 17-19.Strawberries & Creem has also confirmed today (February 17) that Ella Mai, Mabel and Tems will all headline the main stage across the three days of the festival.Tion Wayne, Ghetts, Rema, Ms Banks, David Rodigan, Enny, Sub Focus, High Contrast, Katy B, Wilkinson and Lisa Maffia are also on the line-up.“This year, as we scale up to a full three days, we wanted to ensure our musical offering matched that level of ambition – as well as reflecting our incredibly diverse crowd,” Strawberries & Creem co-founder Preye Crooks said in a statement about this year’s festival, the line-up poster for which you can see below.“We have gone further than ever before to bring exceptional artists together, showing Strawberries & Creem to be a major player on the weekend festival scene. As a team, we also wanted to shine a light on some amazing genres and artists that aren’t always celebrated in full at other festivals.“We hope we have curated a truly representative and exciting line-up, one that offers an unrivalled experience to our festival goers – covering everything from D&B and dance music, to reggae and R&B.”Tickets for Strawberries & Creem 2022 will initially be available in a pre-sale from 10am on Monday (February 21), which requires a sign-up on the festival’s website.

A murderer who was sentenced to life in prison after strangling his fiancée to death with his bare hands has died in prison.

Thousands of West Lothian households are “holding on by their fingertips” as they face a storm of rising prices, warned the Citizens Advice Bureau.

A cheeky Scots dog has lost 2.5ft of his intestines after he accidentally swallowed one of his rope toys.

It's another big night in Europe for Scottish football.

A West Lothian group has been selected as a Royal Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom finalist.

Ed Sheeran has turned another year older.The singer, who turned 31 on February 17, shot to fame over a decade ago with his first hit single "The A Team".He has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists.Two of his albums are in the list of the best-selling albums in UK chart history and in December 2019, the Official Charts Company named him artist of the decade, with the most combined success in the UK album and singles charts in the 2010s.Ed was in a relationship with fellow singer Nina Nesbitt, who appears in his 2012 music video Drunk, before their split.In 2014, the pop star was in a relationship with Athina Andrelos, who works for chef Jamie Oliver, but they split in February 2015.Ed, who is reportedly worth over £200m, began a relationship with childhood friend and former secondary school classmate Cherry Seaborn in July 2015.They announced their engagement in January 2018 and were married a year later.In September 2020, Ed announced on Instagram that his wife had given birth to a baby girl which they named Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran.Daily Star has decided to look at the birthday boy's racy confessions from the over the years.During a 2012 episode of Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Ed spoke about being able to have sex twice in one night before falling asleep.He admitted on the show: "I usually pass out around the second time."The rest of the panel poked fun at his lack of stamina, but Ed held firm.He also made an erection gesture with his arm.In another interview, Ed stated that he uses condoms because he doesn’t want to end up impregnating loads of women.He explained: "I don’t want to end up with sixteen kids from different mothers."Being interviewed on

shark.The ghost shark was found at a depth of around 4,000ft (1.2km) on the Chatham Rise, an ocean floor off the east coast of the South Island, New Zealand.The ghost shark’s scientific name is chimaera, with other names including rat fish, spook fish and rabbit fish.A deep-water animal, the ghost shark is closely related to both sharks but also rays too.They are cartilaginous fish – with their skeletons primarily made up of cartilage – and their embryos grow in egg capsules laid on the ocean floor.Dr Brit Finucci, a scientist who was part of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research team that made the discovery, said: "You can tell this ghost shark recently hatched because it has a full belly of egg yolk.”The exact species of the ghost shark the team discovered is not yet known, with further tests and genetic analysis needed to determine it.The age of the specimen makes it a particularly rare find and this will help inform scientific knowledge on juvenile ghost sharks.Dr Finucci added: "It's quite astonishing. Most deep-water ghost sharks are known adult specimens.

Kylian Mbappe’s intention to join Real Madrid when his contract ends has reportedly 'radically' changed with it thought that the Paris Saint-Germain star is now open to joining Liverpool.The 23-year-old forward has been heavily linked with a move to Los Blancos and has he has even reportedly turned down contract offers at PSG, with his current deal set to expire in June 2022.The Frenchman was also subject to a massive £171.7million bid by the Spanish giants last summer - but PSG turned the offer down. But Spanish publication SPORT have now suggested that Mbappe is hoping to make a move to the Premier League - with Jurgen Klopp ’s side considered top of the pile.

Richard Madeley was forced to apologise after he questioned whether the death threats made to Labour leader Keir Starmer were a "big deal".In spite of the TV veteran's apology statement, Good Morning Britain fans called for the TV host to be sacked over his "lack of respect and nastiness".Viewers of the ITV show flooded Twitter with their comments after Richard had attempted to set the record straight on Tuesday morning.One person fumed: "Richard idiot… diminishing death threats … (incited by the Prime Minister), against Keir Starmer. Sack the moron!"Another barked: "Death threats are not trivial and should be taken seriously.

Manchester United following what's been a promising start to his Everton career.The Dutchman joined the Toffees on loan on Deadline Day last month and has been immediately thrown into the mix by new manager Frank Lampard.He was named man of the match during Everton's 3-0 win over Leeds United on Saturday, which was the first time the 24-year-old had completed 90 minutes of football this season.Following a rejuvenated couple of weeks on Merseyside, Van de Beek says he's starting to feel "really happy" again, and joked that fatigue nearly got the better of him at the weekend as it's been a "long time" since he's played a full match."I am really happy to play 90 minutes," he said."In the last 20 minutes [against Leeds] I felt it was a long time ago that I played a full game, and I was a little bit tired!"But it was an amazing day and a good start for me. We really needed this."Van de Beek has already played over 120 minutes of football for Everton, almost doubling the 69 minutes of Premier League action he was handed by Manchester United over the past five-and-a-half months.If Donny van de Beek's good form for Everton continues, will he start for Manchester United next season? Let us know what you think in the comments section below...The midfielder arrived at Old Trafford from Ajax for £40million in 2020, but was quickly shunted out to the peripheries of the squad by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Rangers vs St Mirren. The MP for Moray was elected as the new leader of the Scottish Conservatives on Wednesday, succeeding Jackson Carlaw after running unopposed.

Douglas Ross.In a leaked message, Michelle Ballantyne said she agreed to support Ross on the understanding he leads a “Boris backing, Brexit positive, anti nat party”.The right winger added she wanted to see “cronyism” in the Scottish Tories rooted out.Get all the top Scottish politics news sent straight to your Inbox by signing up to our Politics newsletter.We cover Holyrood, Westminster and local councils, with a current focus on how our governments are handling the coronavirus pandemic.To sign up, simply enter your email address into the pink box near the top of this article.Alternatively, you can visit our newsletter sign up-centre.

signing up to our Politics newsletter.We cover Holyrood, Westminster and local councils, with a current focus on how our governments are handling the coronavirus pandemic.To sign up, simply enter your email address into the pink box near the top of this article.Alternatively, you can visit our newsletter sign up-centre. Once you are there, enter your email address and select Politics and any other Daily Record newsletters that are of interest."Nothing is more important to me than making the case for Scotland's place in the United Kingdom.“I believe the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party is the most important voice in Scotland for setting out that positive argument.