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TALKING POINTS | Soap Awards, Love Island, The Voice UK and Blind Date

Here's what's got me talking this week...


It's that time of the week again where I take a look back at the last 7 days to see what has got me talking the most.


From EastEnders dominating at The British Soap Awards to the rumoured revival of Blind Date and more, here are my 4 telly talking points of the week...

1

EASTENDERS

winning big at The British Soap Awards


For EastEnders' outgoing Executive Producer Chris Clenshaw, whose final episodes air this week, there's no better way to mark his much-respected tenure on the show, than with EastEnders' biggest win at The British Soap Awards in 15 years, seeing the soap walk away with 8 awards on the night, including the big one, Best Soap.


Following a break in 2024, The British Soap Awards returned this year and took place at London's Hackney Empire on Saturday 31st May. Once again they were hosted by Jane McDonald, who is the perfect host for the ceremony. Unlike previous years, the awards weren't broadcast live, which meant soap fans had to wait until Thursday 5th June, to watch their favourite soap stars accept their awards.


It turned out to be a massive night for EastEnders, who kicked off the evening winning Best Single Episode for Phil's Psychosis: The Mitchells in 1985 and there was further recognition later on in the evening for that sensitively handled storyline, with Steve McFadden winning Best Dramatic Performance. Unfortunately, Steve was unable to attend the ceremony so Adam Woodyatt collected the award on his behalf, with a perfectly pitched speech that proves why Steve truly deserved the win.


Whilst some categories are voted for by an expert judging panel, others are left to the public to decide. This year, the awards decided for by soap fans were Best Comedy Performance, Villain of the Year, Best Leading Performer and Best Soap, all of which were won by EastEnders, with wins for Navin Choudhry, Patsy Palmer and Lacey Turner.


In a year where the soap celebrated 40 years on our screens with some spectacular storylines and surprise returns back in February, including a flawless live episode and the death of Martin Fowler, which I'm still not over, it's really not a surprise that EastEnders were the night's biggest winners.


This year's British Soap Awards were a star-studded affair, with an impressive list of well-known faces handing out the awards, including Joe Absolom and Patsy Kensit, Wicked stars Hattie Ryan and Karis Musongole, Tasha Ghouri and Richie Anderson, Denise Welch and Martin Kemp, Emmett J Scanlan, Kelvin, Liz and Marnie Fletcher, Angellica Bell and Danny Beard, Chris Walker and Jan Pearson, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Natalie J Robb and Mark Charnock, Larry Lamb, Delta Goodrem and Sir David Jason.


EastEnders might have dominated, but they were not the only winners on the night, with Hollyoaks winning Best Newcomer, Best Storyline and Best Family, all in recognition of their sibling sexual abuse storyline and the phenomenal performance of newcomer Isabelle Smith.


It was a much quieter than usual night for Emmerdale, winning just two awards, Best Young Performer for Amelia Flanagan and The Tony Warren Award for Mike Glass and Coronation Street walked away with a very deserving Outstanding Achievement award for David Neilson.


2

LOVE ISLAND

revealing this year's islanders


This weekend marks the 10 year anniversary of Love Island and on Monday night, Maya will invite 12 new islanders into the Love Island villa. Ahead of this year's launch show, ITV revealed the singletons looking for love.


Amongst this year's islanders are 29-year-old Motivational Speaker and Author, Sophie Lee from Manchester, who suffered severe facial burns in 2018 after freak fire-breathing accident.


30 year-old gold trader, and semi-professional footballer and model, Harry Cooksley from Guildford is this year's oldest islander entering on day one and is looking for a girl next door that makes him laugh.


This year's youngest OG islanders are both 22, Shakira Khan from Burnley who works in marketing and landscape gardener Tommy Bradley from Hertfordshire.


The announcement wasn't without controversy, as one of the islanders set to enter the villa, 23 year-old Kyle Ashman from Stafford, was sent packing and replaced by 25 year-old professional rugby Player, Conor Phillips, from Limerick, after it came to light that he was reportedly one of two men arrested following a violent machete attack at a wake in February.


Since being axed from the show, Kyle has said that he "fully co-operated with this police investigation and made it very clear that I had no involvement in this incident. I am not a violent person and any suggestion otherwise is a mischaracterization." He has also since said that he would be willing to enter this year's villa as a bombshell or during Casa Amor. Time will tell if he actually does, but I think it's highly unlikely that he will.


Will any of these 12 islander walk away with that £50k prize? With plenty of bombshells expected along the way, and more twists then ever before promised, including a "never before done before" twist on launch night, anything can, and probably will. happen.


3

KELLY ROWLAND

joining The Voice UK


If you cast your minds back to The X Factor in 2018, the judging line-up had a big shake-up with only Louis Walsh returning. One of those new judges was Destiny's Child superstar Kelly Rowland who was responsible for putting eventual winners Little Mix together.


So when this week ITV confirmed that LeAnn Rimes wouldn't be returning for the next series of The Voice UK, and was being replaced by Kelly Rowland - who has also been a coach on The Voice Australia, and a judge on The X Factor USA before - I was genuinely excited and applaud the producers for what I think will be a great signing.


Kelly will sit in one of the iconic red chairs, alongside returning superstar coaches will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and last year’s winning coaches, McFly’s Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones.


On joining The Voice UK, Kelly Rowland said "I am excited to join The Voice UK as a coach, and am looking forward to working with the excellent and passionate coaches the show is known for. I can’t wait to hear all the new talent and to go to battle for my team. Let’s go!"


It's often said that The Voice UK doesn't have the same track record as other TV talent shows, and that is true, but there have been a handful of very successful careers to come off the back of the show.


Most notably Becky Hill who has sold 24.9 million records worldwide, won two BRIT Awards and released two Top 10 albums. And The Voice UK helped discover two of the finalists at this year's Eurovision Song Contest, including UK act Remember Monday and eventual winner for Austria, JJ.


Will I be watching Kelly's debut on the show? As a huge Destiny's Child and Kelly Rowland fan, absolutely. I can't wait to see what she brings to the show and time will tell if she's able to repeat the success she had in putting Little Mix together.

4

BLIND DATE

rumoured to be revived by Disney+


For 18 years on ITV, and before First Dates, Love Island, Love is Blind and the like, there was Blind Date, a hugely popular dating show hosted by Cilla Black which saw one singleton tasked with picking a date from three potential suitors, each hidden behind a partition.


The only way they could decide who they wanted to date, was based on the answers each of the contestants would give to their questions. After making their decision, Cilla introduced them to the two they turned down, before they came face-to-face with their chosen date... often making for some incredible television.


The couple were then sent on their blind date, often a holiday, which is filmed and they return the following episode to tell Cilla all about it.


This week, fans of Blind Date were excited to learn that Disney+ has reportedly secured the rights for the show, beating other broadcasters who are thought to have been interested. Predictable names in the frame to host the reboot, include Holly Willoughby, who revived Cilla's Surprise Surprise, Davina McCall, who has hosted a number of dating shows, and Claudia Winkleman, who instantly betters every show she hosts.


This of course wouldn't be the first time that Blind Date has been brought back outside of its original ITV run. In June 2017, Paul O'Grady hosted Channel 5's reboot, which ran for four series, before ending in 2019.


Speaking to The Sun, a source said "Although there’s likely to be some modern twists, the bosses very much want to keep the essence of the original."


During the show's original run, before finding fame, a number of famous faces went on the show looking for love, including Amanda Holden, Ed Byrne, Jenni Falconer, Mark Speight, Nikki Grahame, Nina Wadia and Ortis Deley.


And whilst television really isn't in need of another dating show, I'll make an exception for the original dating show, Blind Date.

 
 
 

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