FIRST they took a trip to Italy, then India and now Rob Rinder and Rylan Clark are off on another Grand Tour adventure.
I can reveal the duo are making a third series of their acclaimed BBC Two travelogue even though the second season, which they filmed last year, is yet to air.
It comes after the popularity of Rob & Rylan’s Grand Tour among viewers and critics alike led the show to scoop a telly Bafta.
An insider said: “The success of the show was as much a surprise to the boys as it was to anyone else because it was almost a TV experiment.
“What would happen if you take two people — one from highbrow culture, the other from pop culture — and send them off on their travels? The answer is hilarious, moving and educational telly, loved by both the viewers, critics and the execs alike.
“It’s relatively early days yet, and it’s not clear where the third series will take them.”
The first series of Rob and Rylan’s cultural adventure took them from Venice to Florence and Rome, and bagged them the Factual Entertainment gong at the Baftas TV Awards in May, beating the BBC’s ratings hit, Race Across the World.
Receiving his gong, a stunned Rylan said: “This is so surreal, thank you so much to Bafta for this. We didn’t know what we were making when we first landed in Venice.
“We were in the edit and we watched it for the first time and I turned to Rob and said: ‘We’re either going to get cancelled or win a Bafta. I’m so glad it was the latter. A year or so on, we’re different people because of that show.”
Stephen’s career is back on track
STEPHEN TOMPKINSON is back – and he’s just wrapped filming on a very steamy movie.
These exclusive shots show him in his role as railway pioneer George Stephenson who – invented locomotive engine the “Rocket” – for an upcoming drama-documentary about how the first steam-powered passenger line came into being.
Stephen Tompkinson just wrapped filming on a very steamy movie[/caption]
These exclusive shots show him in his role as railway pioneer George Stephenson[/caption]
Stephen, who has starred in Wild At Heart and DCI Banks, was spotted filming in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, alongside actor Michael Hodgson for The First Five Miles, which focuses on the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
The project marks his first screen role since being cleared of GBH in 2023, after an altercation with a drunk man outside his home.
Good to have you back, Stephen.
The picture focuses on the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first in the world[/caption]
Inventor George Stephenson (1781 – 1848)[/caption]
New Beeb show
FILMING has begun on the new series of the BBC’s acclaimed comedy We Might Regret This.
By Lee Getty and Kyla Harris, the show focusses on Freya (Kyla Harris) and Abe’s (Darren Boyd) engagement and wedding planning. But their views on marriage day quickly hit a sticking point.
Oti: We ignore judges
OTI MABUSE has given away a Strictly secret that could infuriate the show’s judges – including sister Motsi.
The two-times Glitterball champion, who left the BBC One series in 2022, revealed the pro dancers ignore the judges’ comments, and tell their celebrity partners to do the same.
She says: “With the judges, I know a lot of the professionals say, ‘We’re listening, but we’re not taking it in’.
“The goal is not what the judges think, the goal is what the celebs think.”
Speaking on Mo Gilligan’s podcast, Oti added: “You really care about your partners and want to protect them, so I’m like ‘Look, [the judges] are going to have their opinion, I just need you to focus on our journey.”
Her next meeting with Motsi might be awkward . . .
Titanic’s a tonic for Noel
NOEL EDMONDS has a typically niche method of ensuring his New Zealand vineyard enjoys a winning harvest – blasting out music from the Titanic soundtrack.
And the veteran TV presenter enlists the help of head groundsman Jason, who is also a pianist.
Noel Edmonds blasts music from the Titanic soundtrack for his New Zealand vineyard[/caption]
Viewers of his Kiwi Adventure series, which continues tonight on ITV1, will see Noel towing Jason around the vineyard on a trailer while he’s tinkling the ivories, playing Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On.
Explaining his idea to workers at his River Haven estate, Noel said that in a study conducted half a century ago, “The rice field which had the music played in it, the yield increased between 25 and 60 per cent”.
But with the threat of frost on his crops, he added: “It’s a strange business to be involved in. I wouldn’t recommend it if you want to make money.”
Handy if you fancy a tipple in the evenings, mind.
Kate’s Goggle shocks
KATE BOTTLEY starred in five series of Gogglebox, but the vicar says the experience was like “consensual exploitation”.
Kate left the Channel 4 show in 2016 after deciding it was taking too high a toll on her family life for too little financial reward.
Gogglebox’s Reverend Kate Bottley says the experience was like ‘consensual exploitation’[/caption]
She told the Walking The Dog podcast: “My kids spent two and a half years sitting in their bedrooms on nights they came to film. My kids didn’t have friends round, couldn’t have help with their homework.
“We got paid very little, but I cooked two nights a week for the crew. The money we got went on the electricity, the internet they were using and being hospitable to six people in my home two nights a week.
“It got to the point where we were overwhelmed by it.”
