Even at the very top, I didn’t enjoy playing ..I had an empty soul
England star Stewart on child abuse nightmare
years
It’s embarrassing.. you keep the secret but there is a devastating impact on family
PAUL STEWART ON LIVING WITH CHILDHOOD ABUSE
BY STEPHEN WHITE
IT isn’t very often that a hamster this small has surgery.
The tiny pet – a dwarf hamster called Evie – only had a 50/50 chance of surviving the procedure.
But the one-year-old pulled through after the lifesaving op to remove a cyst.
Owner Ashleigh, 27, said: “Dwarf hamsters only have a life expectancy of 18 months but Evie deserved a second chance at life. Not a lot of hamsters undergo surgery, as a lot of owners don’t want to pay the bill.
“I waited nervously in the car park for the hour-long procedure.” Evie was eating a banana out of the vet’s lunchbox five minutes after regaining consciousness. The procedure cost £150, with Ashleigh sometimes spending £600 a month for the care of her adopted pets.
She currently has 20 hamsters, four gerbils, two guinea pigs and two rabbits at her home in Leeds. She said: “They
take over the house. The hamster cages are stacked in the living room and bedroom, the gerbils have their own room and the rabbits roam free.”
Ashleigh, who hopes to persuade other owners with smaller animals to have surgery, added: “[Some] see hamsters as disposable pets but every animal deserves a chance.”
AS fans hope for some long-awaited answers in the sixth series starting on Sunday, the three central stars have one question: Will any of them be killed off in the Line of Duty?
Martin Compston, Adrian Dunbar and Vicky McClure have been in the show since it began in 2012, but they know no one is safe from writer Jed Mercurio’s jaw-dropping plot twists.
With ever more drama surrounding the AC-12 anti-corruption team, will one of the trio be solving their final case?
Martin, who plays DS Steve Arnott, says: “It would be interesting in this series or next if one of us goes.
“We haven’t dealt with this, we kinda now come as one package in our heads.
“With Jed, he’d never do it for the sake of doing it, it would be to further the story. But it would be interesting. It’s hard to think how it would work, knowing one of them wasn’t going to be there. So that would be interesting if it ever came up.”
Vicky, who plays DI Kate Fleming, adds: “It would be a massive shame. When that day comes because you know nothing lasts forever. It will be a really sad time. It’s the longest-standing job that I’ve ever had. So yeah, I’ll keep going until I’m told not to.”
The pair return alongside Adrian as Ted Hastings and several new characters including DCI Joanne Davidson, played by Giri/Haji star Kelly Macdonald.
Kelly was thrown in at the deep end with a 30-minute interrogation scene – one of the show’s longest ever. She says: “One of the interview scenes is bigger than anything
I’ve done before, I think over half an hour. We filmed it over two days, and on the first day the cameras were only on my character. There were 50 cameras set up on me just in that one day, which is mind blowing.”
But the Trainspotting actress relished the challenge, saying: “It was like doing a play and it was a real treat to have that kind of material in one scene!” Davidson arrives on the show as the senior investigating officer on an unsolved murder case, whose suspicious conduct attracts the attention of the AC-12 team. Kelly said: “At the start of the series, she’s quite a lonely figure. She’s struggling and we don’t quite know why that is. “She’s got a very
KEEP GOING Vicky as DI Kate Fleming stressful position and deals with it well, but is quite a closed-off person.
“There’s a lot going on under the surface with her. She gets to the point where she has to make tricky decisions.”
Over nine million watched the Season Five finale in 2019, and fans will expect more big shocks in the new series.
Writer Jed has form for killing off top talent including Craig Parkinson as corrupt AC-12 colleague “Dot” Cottan, and Keeley Hawes as DI Lindsay Denton. Call the Midwife’s Jessica Raine, as new recruit Georgia Trotman, was thrown from a window in her first episode.
But whether writer Jed would risk upsetting fans by removing one of the central trio remains to be seen.
Line of Duty, BBC1, Sunday, 9pm.
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HAND sanitiser has made it into the cost of living basket for the first time as the pandemic alters our lifestyles.
Unprecedented demand for the on-the-go cleanser is now being used as a way to measure inflation along with leisure wear, Maltesers and mini dumbbells.
It is in the Consumer Price Index basket of goods, used by the Office for National Statistics to work out the rate of inflation.
What is in the basket and what is kicked out serves as a snapshot of what is hot – or not.
As millions have had to work from home, jogging bottoms, T-shirts and hoodies have replaced suits.
Bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms have become gyms as well as offices – so weights and fitness-tracking smartwatches are now in.
And with more families cooking from scratch, frozen and pre-prepared veg are added to the basket.
But with city centre offices emptied, takeaway sandwiches are now no longer being counted. White chocolate such as Milkybar, ground coffee, Axminster and Wilton carpets and 9ct gold chains have also been booted out.
In come Maltesers, coffee sachets, electric and hybrid cars, smart lightbulbs and luxury vinyl floor tiles.
Overall, 17 new items are in, while 10 have been axed.
That leaves 729 unchanged, the ONS said. Sam Beckett, ONS head of economic statistics, said: “The pandemic has impacted on our behaviour as consumers, and this has been reflected in the 2021 inflation basket.
“The need for hygiene on the go has seen the addition of hand sanitiser. Lockdown living has seen demand for home exercise equipment rise, while spending more time within our own four walls has also encouraged us to invest in smart tech.
“A more casual approach to clothing, as more of us work from home, has seen the addition of loungewear.”
A more casual approach to clothing as more work from home
SAM BECKETT ONS CHIEF ECONOMICS STATISTICIAN