Livid BBC viewers rip into Springwatch and Countryfile for ‘inaccurate and unrealistic’ reporting

With summer coming to an end, Spotify has revealed the most streamed songs from the past three months!

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Snap announced that it was cutting 20% of its workforce in a bid to contain costs — eliminating nearly 1,300 positions — and that the company will discontinue funding original series. With the moves, Snap estimated it will save $500 million in cash expenses on an annualized basis relative to the second quarter of 2022. That includes a $50 million estimated reduction in fixed content costs with the elimination of Snap Originals. Shares of Snap were up 10% Wednesday in mid-morning trading on the restructuring news, but the stock price is still down more than 75% year to date.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Academy award nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson and his frequent collaborator and editor Bob Ducsay will receive the inaugural Variety Creative Collaborators award at the Middleburg Film Festival in October. The award will celebrate their collaboration on films such as “Looper,” ” Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Knives Out” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” “We are thrilled to partner with Variety on this award and have the opportunity to celebrate the creative collaborations that are such an essential part of what makes great cinema. Rian Johnson and Bob Ducsay are the perfect team to receive the inaugural award for their many years of collaboration, most recently on the highly anticipated ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,’ which we are pleased to be screening during our festival,” said executive director of the festival Susan Koch.

Zack Sharf Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” is about to make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, which means moviegoers will finally get to find out why the Marilyn Monroe drama is rated NC-17. The rating has generated significant buzz for the movie, which casts Ana de Armas as the Hollywood icon and is based on the Joyce Carol Oates novel of the same name. De Armas recently told L’Officiel (via Uproxx) that she is baffled by the film’s NC-17 rating . “I didn’t understand why that happened,” de Armas said of the movie being rated NC-17. “I can tell you a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content than ‘Blonde.’ But to tell this story it is important to show all these moments in Marilyn’s life that made her end up the way that she did. It needed to be explained. Everyone [in the cast] knew we had to go to uncomfortable places. I wasn’t the only one.”

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” has been released, revealing more of the slasher makeover of everyone’s favorite honey-obsessed bear.The movie stars Craig David Dowsett and Chris Cordell as Winnie and his best friend Piglet, who go on a rampage after Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon) abandons them for college. Without the influence of their human friend, the two turn feral, seeking prey and stalking the humans near their homes. The trailer showcases the characters on their rampage, revealing more of the twisted interpretation of A.A. Milne’s beloved characters.As director Rhys Waterfield revealed in an interview with Variety, the film was shot over the course of 10 days near the Ashdown Forest in England, the inspiration for the Hundred Acre Woods as depicted in Milne’s original stories, which only entered the public domain this year. To avoid copyright issues with Disney — which owns the interpretations of the character as seen in various films and television shows — certain elements were changed, including swapping Pooh Bear’ red shirt for lumberjack gear and omitting characters like Tigger who are still under copyright.

Manori Ravindran International Editor “Everything is extra!” blurts out Don Cheadle at the press conference for “White Noise” at the Venice Film Festival. The Noah Baumbach-directed film, an adaptation of the 1985 Don DeLillo novel, opens the Italian festival on Wednesday night, and is nothing if not theatrical, as its cast members explained at length before the screening. “When [Baumbach] started re-reading the book, I did too,” said Greta Gerwig, who is Baumbach’s real-life partner. “[The writing] has this quality that makes you want to say, ‘Listen to this!’ and read sections out loud. There’s a performative quality to it; you want to share with other people. It seemed to be both emotionally and intellectually exciting.”

Manori Ravindran International Editor Georgia Brown, head of Amazon Studios in Europe, is stepping down after five years in the role, Variety can reveal. The executive’s last day at the business is Wednesday (Aug. 31), though her departure is understood to have been in the works for some time. Brown is believed to be moving on to another opportunity, though it’s not yet clear what or where her new role will be. Brown has been a strong and prominent ambassador for Amazon Studios in Europe, and was the first executive hired to lead originals for the continent. In the 2016 to 2018 period, when a number of the global streaming services were first setting up shop internationally and kept their executives largely out of view, Brown was always front and center for Amazon, keen to discuss her local-first strategy.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic Several years (and several hundreds of millions of dollars) after Amazon bought the TV rights to “The Lord of the Rings” from the J.R.R. Tolkien estate, the mammoth effort to boost Prime Video’s profile with the same kind of phenomenon HBO found in “Game of Thrones” is upon us — and it’s just as grand, if not as downright surreal, as the occasion calls for. Sure, “Game of Thrones” might have solidified a television format for fantasy epics. But George R.R. Martin’s novels simply wouldn’t exist without Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” and bringing these stories to episodic life requires not just all the considerable money Amazon can provide, but a certain amount of guts from the TV writers taking it on now, some 85 years after “The Hobbit” changed the game. 

Zack Sharf Rob Schneider said during a recent interview (via Mediaite) that “Saturday Night Live” was killed for good when Kate McKinnon sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as Hillary Clinton during the cold open of the show’s first episode back after the 2016 presidential election. McKinnon parodied Clinton throughout the 2016 election cycle, but the show took a somber and serious approach to Clinton’s loss against Donald Trump by starting the post-election episode with McKinnon’s Hillary performing “Hallelujah” at a piano. “I hate to crap on my old show,” Schneider said. “I literally prayed, ‘Please have a joke at the end. Don’t do this. Please don’t go down there.’ And there was no joke at the end, and I went, ‘It’s over. It’s over. It’s not going to come back.’”

Emma Heming is channeling her grief into new passions. The 44-year-old wife of Bruce Willis took to Instagram on Wednesday in honour of National Grief Awareness Day to share some of the ways she’s tackling her grief in the wake of Bruce’s aphasia diagnosis.

Addison Rae is not at all happy with what’s going on between her parents — and she’s not feeling how public the split has become, either.

Well, The Goldbergs is giving fans what they want! Or, well, at least it’s giving them the lesser of two evils?

millions paid tribute to Diana, leaving flowers, notes, memorabilia and gifts at Buckingham Palace, in the hopes of finding some semblance of closure in the painful loss of the beloved People’s Princess.Over two decades later, the grief is ever-present for those who knew her, fans who adored her, the generations inspired by her charity — and her sons, now adults raising their own children without her loving embrace.Charles Spencer led an emotional tribute to his late sister on Wednesday, the anniversary of her tragic death. The 58-year-old shared a photo on Twitter showing a flag at half-mast at her childhood home, Althorp House.pic.twitter.com/nsYlWyHKcqPrince Harry, Duke of Sussex, 37, said he would be spending time with his family privately on Wednesday, but gave a heartbreaking statement last week during a polo event.“Next week is the 25th anniversary of my mother’s death, and she most certainly will never be forgotten,” he said.

Piers Morgan, 57, took issue with Meghan Markle's claim that she would have been pursued by 40 photographers each day on the school run if she had continued to live in the UK.This claim was first disputed by Royal commentator Chris Ship who took to Twitter to insist that no photographers were allowed to snap her children going to school unless it was their first day, and that paparazzi etiquette was strictly controlled. Meghan, who turned 41 last month, addressed her concerns for her children's privacy in a new interview, after inviting one of their journalists, Allison P Davis, along to pick up three-year-old son from Archie from his pre-school.The article explained how Meghan claimed the school pickup and drop-off wouldn't have been possible for her in the UK due to a "press pen of 40 people snapping pictures."Meghan said in the interview: "Sorry, I have a problem with that [scenario]."That doesn’t make me obsessed with privacy.That makes me a strong and good parent protecting my child," she told The Cut.However, ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship had quickly taken to Twitter to dispute the allegations."The only time cameras [are] allowed for school run is on the first day at school," he wrote in view of almost 129,000 followers.He added: "Only 2 cameras are permitted (one TV, one photo) who agree to share footage with other broadcasters and publications."Is simply wrong for #meghan to claim there would be '40 people snapping pictures'."Piers stepped in to allege to his 7.9 million followers: "Good to see a top ITV news journalist calling out Markle’s lies… just hope he still has his job by tomorrow.""Simple facts @piersmorgan," Chris immediately fired back, adding: "There are no cameras at the school run for George &

A Place In The Sun host Laura Hamilton has given fans the latest update on the renovation process of her new family home.The 40-year-old embarked on the project back in March following her split from her husband Alex Goward after 13 years together.She has since been keeping her instagram followers up to date with the revamp of her new pad with a series of posts.In her latest video, Laura showed her 161,000 followers the building progress as she admitted she initially had “a bit of a panic”.Laura explained that the process is still ongoing but she is “mindful” of how much she can spend.Sharing a video of different parts of the house, Laura warned fans that the renovation process could prove “stressful” at times.She captioned the clip: “After almost two months of working abroad, I FINALLY got to see 'The Rebuild' (the family home I have been building for myself, and the children since March).“I did have a bit of a panic when I walked through the front door (even though I have renovated a fair few properties) because although my brilliant build time have done SO MUCH, it's still a complete building site and i'm mindful of my budget and the rising costs of everything!Laura concluded: “Renovating/building houses can be very stressful but when you look back at the finished product it is so rewarding and even if I can't complete all of the interiors I will make sure the house is habitable!”Fans of the TV star soon took to the comments section to heap praise on the extensive renovation work that had so far been achieved.Emilypontepermanentmakeup said: “Ahh it’s going to look amazing..

, or as she likes to call it, "evolution," from tennis in the September 2022 Vogue issue, it felt like the end of a glorious era. The bittersweet news no doubt shook diehard tennis lovers as much as it did non-tennis fans when it was announced on August 9. Though she will be stepping away from the tennis court soon, she hasn't packed up her racket just yet.

EXCLUSIVE: Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat and the Sundance Institute today named Mayanna Berrin (Power Dynamics), Kiana Butler Jabangwe (Night Off) and Danielle Solomon (Hey Boo) as the recipients of this year’s Women Write Now comedic screenwriting fellowship, designed to elevate the next generation of Black women in comedy.

Roberto De Paolis’ second film has such a heightened sense of the absurd — a playful, almost naïve tone that’s completely at odds with its subject matter — that it can only come from real life. That turns out to be very much the case in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section opener Princess, a story based on the true-experiences of Nigerian sex workers, many of them trafficked, in contemporary Italy. The result is a curiously queasy mix of comedy and drama that, while taking an admirable view of its lead character as a complex heroine rather than a victim to be pitied, falls into many of the same tropes in more cliched depictions of prostitution.

This cat is mad as heck and not going to take it anymore.

Premier League is full of surprises and the 2022/23 campaign has been no different. Who would have thought that Liverpool would remain winless for three games, that Brentford would thump Manchester United - or that a manager of a newly-promoted side would be sacked after just four matches? But that’s all happened, in what has so far been a rollercoaster season. Scott Parker had to pack his bags and say ‘goodbye’ to his squad and leave rather prematurely in the season.

Countryfile, Springwatch, Autumnwatch and The Archers as they don't represent residents way of life and tackle "rural issues". The shows by Chris Packham - who is not in favour of fox hunting, badger culling and other countryside sports - were judged the worst by viewers. READ MORE: Countryfile star Tom Heap overwhelmed as 'brave' Ukrainian breaks down in tears As many as 90% of respondents that took part in the survey agreed Springwatch and Autumnwatch were not a realistic representation of real country life.Meanwhile 89% of respondents felt Countryfile failed to focus on particular issues that mattered to a rural viewing audience.BBC Radio 4's drama The Archers came under fire too and was branded a "contemporary drama in a rural setting" by rural listeners.According to The Telegraph, The Countryside Alliance said two thirds of its members want to see the BBC license fee gone and claimed members longed to see "rural programming for the countryside, not just about the countryside".In addition to this, those who were surveyed said they also want to see more programmes dedicated to farming, rural sports and conservation and land management on their screens.The Countryside Alliance poll was made up of those mostly aged 65 years and older and the findings from the report will be handed over to BBC as part of a "rural impartiality dossier".