Zoe Ball has reportedly lost one million listeners from her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show after taking over from Chris Evans in January.

The show has raked in the lowest amount of listeners in a decade, with 7.9 million tuning in, compared to 8.82 million weekly listeners last year.

The figures are the lowest they’ve been since 2009, when Sir Terry Wogan hosted the show, with just 7.76 million of the British public tuning in.

However, it’s not all bad news for Zoe and Radio 2 as it’s still actually the most listened-to breakfast show in the country.

A Radio 2 spokesperson told Metro.co.uk in a statement: ‘Radio 2 remains the most listened-to Radio station in the UK.

‘Some fluctuation is expected, particularly over the summer months, and we remain incredibly proud of our distinctive output, huge range of popular and specialist music and outstanding line-up of presenters, who entertain over 14.1 million people each week.’

However, it’s not the first time there have been reports of the It Takes Two star’s ratings dropping, after the show lost 780,000 listeners back in August following Chris’ departure.

Meanwhile, Ken Bruce’s show has retained its title as the most listened-to radio show in the UK. Not too shabby.

Zoe took over from Chris back in January 2019, after he’d hosted the morning show for an impressive eight years.

The 48-year-old has also been busy hosting It Takes Two, the Strictly Come Dancing spin-off show.

Not everything was smooth sailing over there either, after it was reported that she and co-star Rylan Clark-Neal had been embroiled in a row.

However, Rylan was quick to come clean on what actually happened – and it was a whole lot less dramatic than everyone had imagined.

‘The fans of Strictly are on it,’ Rylan said. ‘There was a story this morning saying me and Zoe had a massive bust-up on Friday in rehearsals.’

‘Yeah a big old bust-up,’ he added sarcastically before explaining what really went down.

Rubbishing the claims, Rylan revealed: ‘I was late, I missed rehearsals. I was flying back from my DJ gig. It was news to me.’

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Chris Evans loves Rick and Morty even more than Captain America ever loved Peggy and the Avengers star is leading the hype for season four on social media.

The 38-year-old outed himself as a diehard fan of the trippy comedy earlier this year and has been counting down the days (over two years FYI) for its return this coming Sunday.

‘3 more weeks until Rick and Morty,’ he squealed earlier this month. And thankfully for Chris the end of the waiting game is in sight.

Which means we’re hopefully in for more content in the same vein as this: Chris’ homemade tribute to the animation, which has rang alarm bells with fans.

How can you not love this show? pic.twitter.com/sqFASrJb0c

— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) November 4, 2019

‘Did you really just stand there for almost 2 minutes recording your tv then shared the video on social media? That is some serious grandpa behaviour right there,’ mocked of his causal 13 million followers on Twitter, which was echoed by: d’Did u really just record ur tv and post a vid?’

‘I can imagine Chris standing at his TV for a minute and forty-four seconds recording Rick and Morty he’s such a dad and it’s SENDING ME – this is why we stan,’ cheered one more.

‘The amount of dad in this tweet is…surreal. recording your tv, tweeting about the show…….god bless you sir,’ saluted another.

At the time of writing, the video has received 21,600 retweets and 157,000 likes. The fandom is backing him all the way.

Rick and Morty are among those to share Chris’ post and they’ve just dropped one of their own…

Get ready, Jerry. Five days left. @adultswim pic.twitter.com/8hLwxGzbXC

— Rick and Morty (@RickandMorty) November 5, 2019

Rick and Morty returns to Adult Swim this Sunday and will follow on Channel 4 at a later date.

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Avengers star Chris Evans is among many to be left fuming at the plan to have James Dean brought back to life with CGI for an upcoming Vietnam War movie.

The film, Finding Jack, is set to be live action, while James will be constructed via ‘full body’ CGI, while using actual footage of him, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

James is set to take on the role of a secondary lead role called Rogan, with another actor planned to voice him.

However, not everyone is on board.

‘I’m sure he’d be thrilled,’ Chris wrote on Twitter, adding an eye-roll emoji.

‘This is awful. Maybe we can get a computer to paint us a new Picasso. Or write a couple new John Lennon tunes. The complete lack of understanding here is shameful.’

Lord Of The Rings star Elijah Wood agreed, adding: ‘NOPE. this shouldn’t be a thing.’

Meanwhile, Bette Midler fumed: ‘James Dean is being resurrected by CGI to appear in an upcoming movie.

‘Don’t ever let anyone tell you things have gotten more difficult for white guys in Hollywood. Even dead ones can still get a job.’

Anton Ernst and Tati Golykh are set to direct the upcoming motion picture, with the former making a statement about the controversial decision.

‘We have searched high and low for the perfect character to portray the role of Rogan, which has some extreme complex character arcs, and after months of research, we decided on James Dean,’ Anton said in a statement.

He added that they are ‘very honoured’ that James’ family has given their blessing to the actor being posthumously cast in the film, while they aim to keep his legacy ‘firmly intact’.

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Marvel Studios casting director Sarah Finn revealed Chris Pratt originally auditioned for the role of Captain America.

Can you picture him as America’s Sweetheart Steve Rogers?

Sarah said: ‘James Gunn has been very generous about this in saying that I, to the point of annoying him, kept insisting that Chris Pratt was the guy for the part, but Chris didn’t want to play the part and refused to audition.’

It’s a good thing he’s not the Cap’n as who else would have played the Star-Lord in the Guardian of the Galaxy franchise?

Either way, his audition to play the shield-wielding captain put him in frame as the Star-Lord so it all worked out fine.

Sarah was convinced the 40-year-old was made to bring Peter Quill to life with his already comedic background, but convincing director James Gunn was a different story.

She insisted the Parks and Recreation star’s audition was a ‘eureka moment’ as they knew instantly he was their Star-Lord.

‘I finally got him to audition and James Gunn said he didn’t want to see him and that really was a challenge,’ she explained. ‘I was really happy when I finally got them together and it was honestly one of those eureka moments that we talk about in casting when it absolutely feels right and you know it’s right.

‘James turned to me within ten seconds and said, “He’s the guy.”’

Apparently, when it comes to superhero and sci-fi movies, casting directors look for as many Chris’ as possible.

Chris Pratt, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth should start their own superhero group.

Chris Kross?

Meanwhile, James Gunn also revealed that Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 will be the last film he directs in the franchise.

It’s like the end of an era (kind of)!

The director was fired from the project in 2018 after a string of old tweets about paedophilia and rape came to light, before getting reinstated this year.

And now it looks like the 53-year-old is ready to bid farewell to the Marvel universe.

James made the revelation after being inundated with questions over an Instagram snap he posted of the Marvel directors’ round table from Infinity War. One fan asked him: ‘How many GoG movies are you ready to direct?’

‘1 more,’ he replied.

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The star-studded cast of Knives Out – including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis and Katherine Langford – graced the purple(?!) carpet for the premiere of the highly-rated film last night.

Trading in his Captain America cape, Chris looked dapper in an all-white double-breasted suit complete with a black and brown striped tie.

While Ana wore a gorgeous white dress with floral print, complete with a collar and fringe accents.

13 Reasons Why star Katherine wore a feathery white top and black skirt, with striking make-up and statement jewellery.

While James Bond star Daniel took selfies alongside fans in a simple grey suit and blue tie.

Other stars gracing the Westwood, Los Angeles carpet were Riki Lindhome, Don Johnson, K Callan, Michael Shannon, Jaeden Martell, Mark Hamill, Blanca Blanco and Keltie Knight.

Knives Out already has a whopping 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Daniel Craig takes on the role of a detective tasked with solving a murder in a wealthy American family, as he revealed his best Southern accent in the new trailer.

The film sees Daniel’s character drafted in after Harlan Thrombey, an author and the patriarch of a rich family dies mysteriously.

But that’s only the tip of the iceberg for this dysfunctional family.

Directed by Rian Johnson – who was the director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Knives Out looks to be full of drama as each family member tries to get the better of the other.

So, who do you think killed him?

Knives Out hits UK cinemas on 29 November.

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Chris Evans gave everyone a right shock as he stripped down to his underwear live on This Morning and to say Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby had no idea where to look would be an understatement.

The radio DJ was on the sofa to discuss his latest charity work and car festival, but it didn’t take long for things to take a surreal turn.

Showing off the bruises and injuries from having the varicose veins in his legs stripped, the former Top Gear presenter gave everyone’s favourite duo a shock.

‘Are you actually going to take your trousers down?’ Phillip cautiously asked, before the all-important question: ‘What pants have you got on?’

‘I don’t have any teeny pants,’ the Evans jokes. ‘Do you have any teeny pants?’

And poor Holly got a right eyeful.

‘I’ve had my varicose veins microwaved,’ the 53-year-old revealed. ‘Emma Thompson said it’s up there with childbirth, having your veins stripped out.’

Unfortunate viewers watching at home managed to see the very bruised legs of the Big Breakfast presenter, which we’re sure is a sight none of us want to see again anytime soon.

As the interview concluded, Evans admitted: ‘I don’t know how to get my trousers back on.’

Former Gladiator Ace also appeared on the This Morning sofa, opening up about his failed engagement to Katie Price in the 1990s.

The bodybuilder admitted that the pair came from ‘similar backgrounds’, and bonded over their newfound fame.

This Morning continues weekdays from 10.30am on ITV.

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Elton John has recalled the time George Harrison told him to ‘stop putting marching powder up his nose’.

The 72-year-old has recently addressed his former cocaine addiction in his new autobiography, Me: Elton John.

And when talking to Chris Evans on his Virgin Radio Breakfast Show, the father-of-two confessed that the infamous Beatles star had advised him to put down the Class A drug.

Chatting to the host, the Honky Cat hitmaker dished up some advice to struggling musicians, before turning his attention to the late singer.

‘You’ve got to play live,’ the Rocketman insisted: ‘If you want to have a career, record sales will go up and down and people are so fickle.

‘Now, when you’re young, they’ll drop you like a five-pound note on the floor and you’ve got to be able to play live and believe in yourself, but play live.’

Chris pressed: ‘Okay. And the best piece of advice George Harrison gave you.’

Pausing for a moment, Elton laughed: ‘Stop putting that marching powder up your nose.’

Chuckling along with the star, Chris quizzed Elton over his sobriety as he asked: ‘How long’s it been now? How long’s it been?’

‘Twenty-nine years,’ the living legend proudly replied as he joked: ‘The nose is still here!’

This isn’t the first time he’s spoken about his substance abuse, as Elton wrote about it in his recent memoir.

Speaking of a period in mid-1983 when he was filming his I’m Still Standing music video, he recalled being told he’d smashed up his entire hotel suite. Only he didn’t remember a thing.

‘Everything else was on its side, or upside down, or in pieces. Sitting among the splinters was a cowboy hat that [personal assistant] Bob liked to wear. It was completely flat, like Yosemite Sam’s after Bugs Bunny drops an anvil on his head,’ he wrote of his PA waking up him to survey the damage.

‘”F***ing hell,” I said. “What happened?” There was a long pause. “Elton,” he said eventually. “You happened”.’

Elton revealed the shoot in Cannes kicked off at 4am, before wrapping at sunset with the crooner going back to his room before the night schedule began. It was there he bumped into Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon and joined him for a drink at the bar.

After downing ‘either six or eight vodka martinis in the space of an hour, and a couple of lines of coke’, Elton returned to set where he ‘started rolling around on the floor naked’ before punching his then-manager John Reid.

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Knives Out is a magnificent and genuinely funny middle finger to the patriarchy as Ana de Armas shines in the dark comedy.

The whodunnit, starring the likes of Chris Evans (Ransom Thrombey), Jamie Lee Curtis (Linda Drysdale), Don Johnson (Morris Bristow) and Daniel Craig (Detective Benoit Blanc), follows wealthy family after the death of patriarch and millionaire Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer).

When Detective Blanc is hired to get to the bottom of the mystery after sensing foul play, he enlists the help of downtrodden nurse Marta Cabrera (de Armas).

While the upper-class family are keen to keep skeletons firmly in their closets and isolate anyone they see as an outsider, their picture-perfect existence quickly falls apart.

And it’ll leave you enthralled long after the credits have rolled.

While the big reveal seemed to come jarringly early on in the movie, it quickly becomes apparent that that was just the start and, honey, you’ve got a big storm coming.

By the end, you might be left exhausted by the twists and turns but it could not be more worth it.

Let’s face it – armed with a stellar cast and his impressive film-making credentials, director Rian Johnson definitely had all the ingredients to make an incredible movie.

However it could have very well gone wrong.

American-central comedies all too often fall into the trap of catering too specifically for a US audience, leaving the rest of the world half-heartedly chuckling at humour that clearly wasn’t meant for us.

But, at the same time as covering topics like sexism, xenophobia, and even grief, the tone manages to stay genuinely funny, heartfelt and relatable throughout.

That’s down, in no small part, to relative newcomer Ana. Despite playing a pretty mousey character, she holds her own, and even often outshines, her co-stars which is clearly no easy feat.

An honourable mention also has to go to Chris. Despite the entire world knowing him as Marvel’s Captain America, he shed the hero costume effortlessly, suiting the ‘vile’ character of Ransom perfectly.

It’s a genuine challenge to find anything bad to say about the movie – if we ignore Daniel’s dubious American accent, that is.

As a whole it’s complex without being confusing or trying to do too much, heartfelt without being cheesy, and genuinely funny without any real cringe moments.

And that’s without even mentioning the iconic final shot, which will stick with you long after the movie’s ended.

We’ll be needing a re-watch of this as soon as possible, please.

Knives Out is released 29 November 2019.

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Rian Johnson says that he still can’t believe he ‘got away’ with his incredibly A-List all-star cast for new twisty murder-mystery Knives Out.

The film is the first project for Rian since helming Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017 and sees the writer-director taking the murder-mystery genre in a whole new direction.

The film has a cast list to make even the biggest of blockbusters jealous; you have a post-Endgame Chris Evans, Daniel Craig sporting a devillish Kentucky accent, Jamie Lee Curtis wearing colourful pantsuits as a vaguely sociopathic Kris Jenner and Hereditary star Toni Collette as the flower child from hell.

Despite directing some other pretty big names in his time (Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Carrie bloody Fisher to name but a few), the 45 year-old still can’t quite believe the calibre of talent he was able to recruit for the film.

‘I can’t believe we got away with it!’ Johnson shared with Metro.co.uk. ‘Every single day [filming] I felt that and the actors did too.’

He shared on everyone’s favourite American super-soldier: ‘Chris Evans, he showed up just ready to have fun with the part. That’s real. That’s a genuine reflection to how it was on set. I was pinching myself.’

The director is full of praise for his cast as well – acknowledging that Daniel Craig was ‘the reason this film got made’ and relishing the opportunity to turn matinee Hollywood icon Evans into ‘a jerk.’

But the clear star of the film is relative newcomer Ana de Armas, shaking off previous supporting roles to become the heart of the film, and the sole carrier of most of its emotional weight.

‘Ana de Armas is amazing in this film’ he shared. ‘She’s really amazing. For her to walk into the middle of a cast like this and for her to carry the movie has confidently as she doe? I think she’s incredible.’

This is a significant achievement – and a testament to Johnson’s talents – since the film is an entirely original work. there’s no source material to pull from or no franchise attached it, an increasingly rare concept in the modern-day cinematic landscape.

‘If it’s not based on [pre-existing] material, you’re always holding your breath and rolling the dice for the release,’ the director explained. ‘I hope people come out to see it.’

The film maybe a complex mystery with murder at its heart and plottings of a toxic, prejudiced family  behind it, but ultimately for Johnson, the creation of this film was one to find joy in the darkness of 2019.

‘For me, the whole thing started for me growing up reading Agatha Christie’s books but even more so it was the movie’s I was watching based on those books,’ he added.

‘Those movies were big, fun, entertainment. They had an all-star cast that were big event movies you could watch with your whole family. I jsut remember as a kid that those were the most fun you could have at the movies.

‘A big part of the motivation – it makes me happy to know you had fun in it – was just to throwback to those and have fun at a murder mystery.’

Knives Out is out now.

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The script for Avengers: Endgame has been released and it’s answered a whole host of questions – and given us some new ones.

It’s just adding to the heartbreak, really.

The full screenplay, which is 149 pages long, has been released after Disney submitted the film for Oscar consideration and eagle-eyed fans have noticed details that weren’t even included in the final cut.

Hearts melted at the end of the movie, when Captain America (Chris Evans) returned to the past to spend his life with his love, Peggy Carter, with him later returning as an old man.

Although the year wasn’t stated in the movie, the script confirms he returns to 1949 to see Peggy, with him being 112 years old when he returns.

To make it all the more emotional, the final line in the script is dedicated to the character, as it reads: ‘As they turn, we get a good look at Steve Rogers, eyes shut, finally getting the life he deserves.’

We’re not okay in the slightest.

Meanwhile, the script also confirms a series of deaths that weren’t actually shown in the final cut.

The end of Infinity War saw many of our heroes being turned to dust after Thanos (Josh Brolin) collected all of the Infinity Stones.

A sequence at the beginning of Endgame shows the Avengers watching a screen as all the dead are listed, including Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt).

However, the likes of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Wong (Benedict Wong), and Secretary Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt), whose deaths weren’t included in the final cut, are also included in the script, which has made us pretty glad we were spared the torture.

The writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, previously opened up about wanting to avoid a ‘bloodbath’ in the final movie.

Chatting about the surviving Avengers, Stephen explained to Vanity Fair: ‘We could have had a bloodbath and all six of them gone down swinging, but that seemed even more depressing.’

Um, no thank you.

He went on to explain why Thor ultimately survived, adding: ‘It’s not necessarily that we knew they’d get more stories, it’s just that…Thor has sacrificed and sacrificed and lost and lost.

‘It’s not a good ending to kill him. To have him finally, reasonably content with himself—and with his current weight, by the way [is more satisfying].’

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Top Gear host Paddy McGuinness has opened up about following in the footsteps of former frontman and fan-favourite Jeremy Clarkson, and how the new presenting trio is trying to bring the show back to basics again.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk alongside co-hosts Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris, the Take Me Out star is preparing for the programme’s upcoming Christmas special after his and Freddie’s first stint as frontmen this year alongside YouTuber and journalist Chris.

The trio proved to be steady hands for the hit show after a turbulent few years following the departures of Jeremy, Richard Hammond and James May, as well as the introduction then swift axing of Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans as the main host.

Commenting on the news that Clarkson had been voted by the public as their favourite Top Gear presenter, Paddy was keen on paying his respects to the old guard.

‘Personally, I think that’s true,’ he began. ‘He’s the one who’s been a massive part of the show. It had its little wobble years [after Clarkson’s exit] and then we came in.

‘I think it was quite right he was voted number one. There’s no way after one series that we can put ourselves in the bracket.’

For the new Christmas special, the boys have headed to Nepal, on an epic journey from the capital Kathmandu to the Forbidden City of Lo Mathang. The trio will all be driving city cars on the road trip, however, in the shape of a very small Peugeot, an even smaller Renault and the only locally-built car in Nepal.

In scenes already previewed, fans can see the boys well and truly get…well…stuck in a rather muddy situation.

We do put the question to the boys, however, with each successive special and series, isn’t it hard not to go too big? Won’t they, one day, maybe find themselves driving cars in space?

‘It’s a very dangerous game allowing yourselves to be judged by the scope of your ideas or how ambitious you are,’ explained Chris Harris. 

‘Eventually, you have to go to Mars. For a while, it was too much,’ he argues. ‘Unless we were going on a plane for 10 years to a jungle or somewhere where you couldn’t pronounce the name, we didn’t feel like we were doing our job. We’ve brought it back now.’

The most important thing to the three presenters – whether they’re crossing continents or just driving up the M4 – is to always instill a sense of fun to the proceedings, and that’s something they’ve endeavor to do no matter where they’re filming.

Paddy added: ‘I quite like the idea of bringing it back. You don’t always have to go to the other side of the world.

‘Us three in a car together can be anywhere and we’ll have a laugh.’

The Top Gear Nepal special airs 29 December at 9pm on BBC Two. 

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Greg Powell has been in the stunt game longer than Captain America has been gracing our screens with his famed behind, but as the man behind the stunts in Avengers, as well as James Bond and latest Gerard Butler thriller Angel Has Fallen, the guy puts a lot of body into the films we love.

Would Avengers be as boss if the crew weren’t throwing themselves around the place?

Greg worked on Avengers: Age Of Ultron as the stunt coordinator and is the reason we’re in awe at the moves of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Chris Hemsworth as Thor, but to him, it’s a dreamland to be choreographing superhero fight scenes.

‘The Marvel stuff, especially Avengers, with all the characters in there, is literally, you’ve got to think of different scenes for different fights – it’s absolutely full-on,’ he tells Metro.co.uk. ‘It’s a different sort of action, one is make-believe and one is real.

‘Avengers is a dreamland.’

It’s true – it’s not like Captain America (Chris Evans) is flailing about the place. No, he lands perfectly 90% of the time.

When it comes to his favourite films to do the stunt work on, though, Greg enthuses it’s Gerard’s turn as Mike Banning in the Fallen franchise that piques his interest most.

‘Angel is believable,’ he says. ‘I like doing stunts where you think they could have actually done that, not like the Marvel stuff.’

In regards to the kind of input he has on a script, he says: ‘You can run as wild as you like and I think we did a couple times. My imagination sometimes doesn’t go as far as [Marvel] wants it to go.’

When it comes to the stunts in Angel Has Fallen, there is one particular scene in which Gerard feared he’d killed 82-year-old Morgan Freeman, after the two were forced to deep dive into a freezing lake to escape exploding drones (yes, a thing).

Greg tells us Morgan was keen on all the moves and there was no way he was going to get hurt, however, as he adds: ‘You have to be careful of Morgan because of his age, but we had plenty of safety guys around him. It was all good.

‘Everyone went for medicals and we had a lot of safety divers, they was well looked after and prepared for it. Morgan was very keen to do it, anyway!’

It was Greg’s son-in-law Joe Watts who was seriously injured in July while working as a body double on the latest Fast & Furious franchise film.

After leaving intensive care, he thanked well-wishers for their overwhelming support, with the conversation now well and truly open about the massive debt owed to those who put their bodies on the line to make action sequences look really ruddy good.

‘They know what they’re going in for, they know they’re going to get banged about a bit that’s what stuntmen do. They want to do this sort of stuff, but them things happen unfortunately,’ Greg says of the serious injuries, such as Joe’s, that go with his line of work.

It prompted long time stunt man Jason Statham to sing the praises of the community, calling them his ‘best friends’ in the industry.

Too true, says Greg.

‘It’s a shame the stunt community doesn’t get recognised or thanked that much, at the Baftas or Oscars, would be great to get a thank you to all the guys who helped out from the stunt community,’ he insists. ‘Boys and girls do a lot for film, not just the stunt work, the actors confide in them, they talk a lot and eat and drink together.

‘I think over the next couple of years it will [change] personally. Change is happening, or they’re trying to change.

‘I’m not being funny but if you take all the action clips out of Avengers and just done the dialogue I don’t think it would have done very well.’

Angel Has Fallen is available on 4K UHD, Blu-Ray™, DVD and on Digital Download now.

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If you thought that a Top Gear Christmas special would see Paddy McGuinness, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris journeying to the North Pole on motorised sleighs or something more in keeping with the festive season, then think again.

This is a very Un-Christmassy special, as the boys are dispatched to the furthest reaches of Nepal to undertake a journey to the mythical Forbidden City…in three city cars normally used for an hour or less commute, not traipsing around the sides of mountains.

The episode itself is the perfect crucible to test the newly-forged bonds of friendship between the three hosts. Harris has been on-board since the ill-fated Chris Evans days following the departure of the previous trifecta of Clarkson, Hammond and May. After a few false starts over several years, the show finally seemed to find its groove in yet another reboot with McGuinness and Flintoff joining Harris.

This special, then, is a test – to see if the new threesome really can go the distance. Luckily for them, their journey throughout Nepal – whilst not exactly the most festive watch you’ll find this side of Christmas – shows just what a strong team they’ve become.

Their task is (seemingly) simple. They have to travel from Nepal’s capital city Kathmandu to the Forbidden City of Lo Manthang, using the city car they have brought with them for ‘the ultimate commute.’

The cars the boys choose are indicative of their personalities – uber-competitive Paddy and Chris choose similar, small city cars, with a Peugeot and Renault, but Freddie, however, goes for a native Nepalese car – the Hoolas mustang, which not even car expert Chris has ever heard of before.

What follows is an epic journey that is part Indiana Jones, part Carry On Up The Khyber. The boys (and their cars) are pushed to their absolute limits by the trek – can cars built for commuting in a city successfully navigate mountain passes and waterfalls? We’ll let you guess the answer to that one.

But what shines through more than ever is what a crack team Paddy, Freddie and Chris now make. The camaraderie between them is palpable, so much so you’d think that they’d been presenting side-by-side for years, not just little under 12 months.

It’s a return, we think, to the halcyon days of Top Gear, where you would tune in not to see the cars or the elaborate stunts, just to see three mates making the most of the time they have together, and the trio now have very well-defined roles. Chris, the notable expert on all things automobile, is the pair of steady hands. Paddy is the banter machine whilst Freddie, bless him, is the clueless joker, who shines in the moments where he’s the only one able to help his friends out.

Verdict:

In their most tenuous link to a ‘Christmas’ special yet, Top Gear’s newest trio manage to re-capture the magic of the glory days in a thrill ride that is as exciting as it is hilarious.

The Top Gear Christmas Special airs 9pm on 29 December on BBC Two.

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Avengers’ Lexi Rabe has proven she’s Tony Stark’s daughter through and through by taking ‘Uncle Cap’s’ shield for a sledding adventure.

Iconic.

The seven-year-old actress, who starred as Morgan Stark in Avengers: Endgame alongside Robert Downey Jr, shared a video of herself wrapped up against the cold as she sledded backwards down a hill.

At the end of the clip, she reveals she took Captain America’s (Chris Evans) shield for a spin, telling everyone to ‘Shhhh’ as she runs back up the hill.

That’s definitely one use for it we never knew we needed.

‘#DontTellMyDad #UncleCap’sShield #sledding,’ she captioned the video. 

It’s not the first time Lexi’s melted hearts, previously telling her co-star Tom Holland (Peter Parker) he would ‘always be a brother’ to her amid uncertainty surrounding his future in the MCU due to reported disagreements between Disney and Sony.

Luckily enough, she’s got her brother back as it was confirmed that Spider-Man will return to the Marvel universe. Phew.

Meanwhile, fans have still got the Endgame bug months after the movie’s release, with forums being rife with theories.

One recent one even suggested that Captain America is Star Lord’s (Chris Pratt) grandfather.

We truly can’t keep up.

Effectively, Reddit user u/chill_bishop believes this theory based on the fact the actress who plays Meredith Quill (Laura Haddock), Peter’s mum, in Guardians Of The Galaxy had a part in The First Avenger, ‘where it’s implied something happens with her and Cap’.

In fact, she’s just a fan of Cap who shared a little moment with the hero. Still, that doesn’t stop them wondering if she was in fact also Meredith’s mother in the 2011 film and we just didn’t know it yet.

‘Fast forward to GOTG2 where Peter is the only offspring of [father in the film] Ego’s millions of kids to have the inner light. Plus timeline matches up pretty perfectly,’ they continued this week, of Peter’s special origin.

They added: ‘More evidence is that if Peter is just a normal guy, how come he has the inner light and none of the other MILLIONS of Ego’s kids didn’t? Almost NOTHING is done in movies by accident, why would they cast that same woman for those two parts?’

When it comes to the timeline, they try to make it work by saying: ‘Gma has Meredith in the mid 40s, Peter was a young boy in the late 70s early 80s, actress was 30-31 when filming GOTG2 in the scenes when she meets Ego.’

We’re so done.

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As we head closer to the beginning of awards season, stars Dakota Fanning and Chris Evans have been confirmed to be presenting awards at the Golden Globes awards ceremony in February.

While neither actors have been nominated for an award this year, both have appeared in critics’ favourites that are tipped to win big this year.

Evans starred alongside Daniel Craig and Jamie Lee Curtis in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, while Fanning played a member of Charles Manson’s ‘family’ cult in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood. Tarantino’s latest offering has received five nominations, while Knives Out has received three.

The two actors starred together in 2009 thriller Push. Meanwhile, comedian Ricky Gervais will host the Golden Globes ceremony for the fifth time.

After their appearances in Hollywood movies hits in 2019, both Evans and Fanning will be returning to the small screen in 2020. Evans is due to star in Apple TV+ series Defending Jacob, while Fanning will appear in US TV show The Angel of Darkness, a sequel series to US period drama series The Alienist.

The Golden Globe nominations have already attracted controversy, in particular for the all-male best director nominees shortlist.

The 2020 ceremony is also due to honour Tom Hanks with the Cecil B DeMille Award for ‘outstanding contribution’ to the entertainment world, while Ellen DeGeneres will be awarded the Carol Burnett Award for ‘excellence in television’.

The Golden Globes ceremony will take place on Sunday 5th January. 

Chris Harris knew Top Gear would be a car crash on his first day filming with Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc back in 2015. Little did he know quite the furore that was ahead of him.

Back in 2015, fronted then by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, Top Gear was the BBC’s biggest global export worth an estimated £50million a year through live shows, DVDs and viewing figures of 350 million fans across 214 territories.

Then Clarkson was confronted with a cold steak and the rest is history. Evans and Friends star LeBlanc were roped in to save the motoring show, and what could possibly go wrong? Evans was the most popular (and bankable) presenter in the UK while his co-host was one-sixth of the most loved comedy of all time.

Actually, every worst nightmare came true in a matter of weeks. Ratings took a cataclysmic fall shedding almost 3 million viewers across one series and Evans was put in the stocks and pelted with scathing articles and vicious tweets. No wonder then after just one spin he quit.

It seemed Top Gear’s days were numbered. It’s previously untouchable popularity had gone and its reputation was tattered beyond repair. Until Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness joined Harris behind the wheel and suddenly we were back on track.

‘In reality, we hit the ground running right from the start,’ Harris recalled to Metro.co.uk of the latest carnation of Top Gear line-ups. ‘They got the chemistry right – from the first day we filmed I knew it was going to be fine.’

Quite the contrast to his first day on set with Evans and co.

‘Whereas the first time I did this in 2015/2016, I thought, “oh god, what have done?”’

‘I don’t know much about football but I know when Alex Ferguson retired this guy called Moys came in and he was doomed to fail. He could have been the best manager in the world, but karma tells you that after that prolonged success you’re always going to have problems.

‘I think Chris was doomed: people were always going to hate it because it wasn’t Jeremy. There was a lot more good content than people gave it credit for but what we’ve done is lanced that boil and these clever b*****s have come along now we’ve taken all the hard yards and taken all the credit for it.’

Top Gear showrunner Claire Pizey jumped in to salvage Top Gear in 2016 when it was in peak break down. As well as Evans’ panned performance, the programme caused a huge upset when LeBlanc was snapped performing wheel spins around London’s Cenotaph war memorial.

‘It was difficult,’ Pizey admitted. ‘When you’re making telly you don’t think about that but to echo Chris when we did testing and we had Paddy, Freddie and Chris on camera and within three minutes I knew we had it: because they were laughing. It was so funny. Straight away I knew this is what we’d been missing.’

Thankfully, viewers agreed and here we are with a new run, McGuinness and Flintoff’s second. But despite their rave reviews, McGuinness is treading with caution.

‘You can never rest on your laurels,’ he stressed. ‘For me I felt more excited about series two because I’d been in situations with these two; we’re a proper couple now, or threesome – whatever you want to call it. I know how to wind them both up so it’s just a more relaxing and comfortable ride.’

Top Gear returns to this Sunday at 8pm on BBC2.

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The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is due to air earlier than expected after producers had to halt filming due to an earthquake strike.

Originally bosses had been forced to stop production after a planned shoot in Puerto Rico was called off over the earthquakes.

The earthquakes are the worst the country has seen for more than 100 years, made worse by the island’s current recovery from Hurricane Maria in 2017, which had devastating effects on the whole country including a mass power outage.

But it looks like the Avengers spin-off is back on track with its filming schedule, as Deadline reports that the show ‘is slated to premiere on Disney+ in August’.

Show production was confirmed by leading man Anthony Mackie (aka Falcon) who revealed his first day on set was in November 2019.

The series will follow him and Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) on a series of missions and adventures as they get used to life without their third team mate, Captain America (Chris Evans).

The series is due on Disney+ around August and will see The Falcon and The Winter Soldier team up for a series of missions and adventures – loosely based off the comic books of the same name.

Daniel Brühl has been confirmed to return as villain Zemo, while Emily VanCamp will also come back as Sharon Carter, Peggy’s daughter.

On his return to the suit, and his future as the potential Captain America, Anthony told Deadline, ‘You know what, to be honest, it’s very emotional.’

‘I’ve been in the business for 20 years and I’ve been fortunate to do some amazing stuff and work with amazing people.’

The Falcon And The Winter Soldier airs in August 2020 on Disney+.

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James Norton has shut down all hope of him appearing as the next Bond.

The actor, 34, became the hot favourite to replace Daniel Craig in the 007 feature after reportedly going for ‘secret meetings’ with producers at the end of last year.

But sadly for us, James made it pretty clear he won’t be taking on the suave British spy anytime soon during an appearance on Chris Evans’ Virgin Radio show.

‘None of it is true. No it’s not true,’ he said.

‘Unfortunately or fortunately, whatever you think, it’s people making stories. I promise you, I promise you.

‘I mean, as far as I’m concerned, I have not had a single conversation beyond like this.. So, and I mean, I hope Daniel Craig might do one or two more.’

James later added that while there’s probably talk of someone replacing Craig after his 12-year run as the character, he’s definitely not one of them.

‘I mean, maybe there are conversations going on, but they’re not involving me,’ the Trial Of Christine Keeler star explained.

A source previously told The Sun that the actor ‘ticked all the boxes’ for the role.

The inside said: ‘Numerous meetings and secret squirrel script readings were had at the back end of last year.

‘James has always been in the frame but until four months ago, there were no concrete moves.’

Sam Heughan, Tom Hiddleston, Richard Madden and Idris Elba are just some of the stars also in the mix to play the new 007 agent.

We guess it’s back to the drawing board then.

James appeared on The Chris Evans Virgin Radio Breakfast Show with Sky.

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It’s been confirmed today that a sequel to the sensational murder mystery, Knives Out, is in the works over at its parent studio Lionsgate.

According to Deadline, studio chief Jon Feltheimer hinted that production will begin imminently and could see the birth of a new franchise.

I loved Knives Out. It was the best film I saw last year. But there should, in no way, shape or form, be a sequel to this film.

Originally written and directed by Rian Johnson – a cinematic auteur whose previous films include Brick and Looper – Knives Out functioned as a modern-day re-telling of an Agatha Christie novel.

We had a big mansion in an isolated location, an aristocratic family full of eccentrics (including Jamie Lee Curtis as a vaguely sociopathic Kris Jenner and Toni Collette as the flower child from Hell) and a whip-smart detective (Daniel Craig featuring a very distinctive Southern drawl) trying to solve a murder.

The film was big, bombastic and most of all smart – twisting the stereotypes and conventions of its parent genre in so many directions and with so many red herrings that the viewer didn’t know where to look, what to think or who to trust.

It’s also no coincidence that the film is Johnson’s first work since helming Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a massive blockbuster that broke $1billion worldwide, re-wrote the rules of the franchise but proved to be massively controversial among fans.

For Johnson, the film read as a palette cleanser to get him out of the franchise cinema headspace; a self-contained film with a rigid beginning and end, no inflated budgets or re-shoots or fanboy trolls on Twitter.

Which is why, for me, the news that a Knives Out sequel is in the works feels so weird – because the biggest and boldest move the film made was that it was an original piece of cinema that didn’t need to kickstart a franchise.

And I think a large part of what made the original so successful, actually, was its refusal to look and act like any other mainstream film you’d find in the cinema with an A-list cast attached.

In an era where every studio film you see is expected to lead into further films and complicated, interconnected universes, it was really refreshing to see a writer-director at the peak of his powers with a severely brilliant cast at his command sit back and say, ‘do you know what, that’s not what you really want’.

And do we, actually, want a sequel to Knives Out? Yes, it was great fun. Yes, Ana de Armas metamorphised into a leading lady in front of our very eyes. Yes, Jamie Lee Curtis looked great in various primary coloured pantsuits…

But what, if anything, about the movie screamed ‘tentpole film franchise’ in the same way that Harry Potter or the MCU did?

What’s next for Craig’s Detective Blanc? Is he going to go up and down the country in a van solving murder mysteries? Will he have a new side-kick each time? Will he sport a different accent in every sequel? Will there be a spin-off featuring Chris Evans delivering monologues, wearing various different knitted jumpers? (Actually, I’ve changed my mind – make that film, as I’d watch the s**t out of it).

Knives Out 2 – if it does truly happen – would clearly follow the mould of its main inspiration, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, and see Blanc investigate a different murder at each turn.

But here’s where you actually have to stop and ask yourself the question – was Daniel Craig the best part of Knives Out? The answer to that, sorry, is a distinct no.

We have to start asking ourselves what we really want from our films. Many of us who loved Knives Out loved it because it was just great fun, no-strings-attached. If a sequel is released, I’d feel like I was being led into a relationship after just one date (which has happened – it didn’t end well).

That being said, however, maybe Knives Out: Knife Harder (official working title) will actually be brilliant and I’ll eat my words. Maybe it’ll make The Godfather II look like Cats. Or maybe it will be a well-intentioned but misguided attempt to extend the longevity of a great, nimble concept that has already run its course.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, just like any great whodunnit.

Knives Out is available to buy and stream digitally now.

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Chris Evans cracked a joke about his Top Gear presenting stint as he congratulated current host Freddie Flintoff and how good he is in the driving seat.

The radio host infamously took over the car programme alongside Friends star Matt LeBlanc as hosts following Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond’s departure, however, stepped down from the helm after just one series.

Speaking at the Sky’s Up Next showcase event at the Tate Modern, Chris proved that he can have a laugh at his own expense as he praised Freddie for helping to bring back the show to its best.

‘That couldn’t have been easy because there was Clarkson and then there was you,’ he said.

Bless him.

Chris quit Top Gear back in 2016 after falling ratings and confirmed the news of his departure on Twitter.

‘Gave it my best shot but sometimes that’s not enough. The team are beyond brilliant, I wish them all the best,’ he wrote at the time.

After Chris’ exit from Top Gear, Matt joined Chris Harris and Rory Reid until 2019, when it was announced that Paddy McGuinness, Freddie and Chris would takeover and front the show’s new era.

Chris’ light-hearted remark was dropped at the Sky’s Up Next event, which delved into a range of exciting new content that’s coming up on the platform over the next few months.

It was there were it was revealed that Jude Law will be at the helm of the world’s first-ever immersive TV drama The Third Day, a ground-breaking project that tells three, stand-alone but interconnected stories, not only on screen but also in a live, immersive event.

Meanwhile, Brassic was confirmed for a third series as the trailer for the upcoming second season was teased.

Top Gear continues on Sunday at 8pm on BBC Two.

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