WEEK IN SHOWBIZ

LEMON AID

On Celebrity Juice, pal Leigh Francis as his cheeky alter ego Keith Lemon has thrown me under the bus more than once. So why do contestants keep coming back for more? Keith says, ‘It’s just a great night out and ya get to see people like yaself do things you thought only existed in dreams! Just a bit of fun, innit!’ I can reveal a drop of Dutch for all of us off-camera also helps!

HELEN OF JOY

Expect a nod at next month’s BAFTA TV Awards to the late, great Helen Mccrory who passed away in April. I last met Helen and husband Damian Lewis at the prepandemic 2019 party. By the time I’d left the red carpet, the bar was shut. Without missing a beat, Helen handed me her own glass of bubbles. ‘You look like you need this,’ she said. An absolute corker of a legend in every sense. Catch the bash on 6 June.

SHE’S A LADY

Sir Tom Jones’ first album for five years – Surrounded By Time – is a fitting tribute to his wife Linda, who passed away in 2016. ‘It’s a very honest album, very personal,’ says Sir Tom. ‘Any time I was recording an album, I’d play it to Linda and see what she thought of it and she was always right. She used to keep my feet on the ground,’ adds the 80-year-old legend, echoing our many chats over the years when he’d always credit Linda with being his rock.