It’s not quite a guillotine chop, but after spending months wearing towering wigs in order to play the French Queen, Marie Antoinette star Emilia Schule rebelled by shearing an undercut into one side of her head, to create this curious, asymmetrical, punkish mullet.
But her revolutionary look is being covered up, as she has started filming the sequel to the hit BBC show — so it’s wigs all the way again.
Incidentally, the actress, 30, has formed a warm friendship with her British co-star Louis Cunningham, the actor who plays Louis XVI (and in real life is the son of Princess Charlotte of Luxembourg).
She shared a snap of the two of them at a script session and then one of a Post-it note on which she had written: ‘Recast Louis Cunningham’ and he had replied by printing in capitals ‘F*** YOU’.
The preparations for the second series started last month, and it’s expected to take around six months to shoot. It will cover the ‘affair of the diamond necklace’ and the first rumblings of the French Revolution.
Marie Antoinette star Emilia Schule rebelled by shearing an undercut into one side of her head, to create this curious, asymmetrical, punkish mullet
She shared a snap of her and Louis Cunningham (pictured in the show) at a script session and then one of a Post-it note on which she had written: ‘Recast Louis Cunningham’ and he had replied by printing in capitals ‘F*** YOU’
…but our acting queen loves a wig
Here is fun-loving national treasure Dame Judi Dench… wearing a wig made out of shredded paper
Here is fun-loving national treasure Dame Judi Dench… wearing a wig made out of shredded paper. Dame Judi, 88, says her family have had a tradition of making clothing out of packaging.
Speaking during a talk to promote her new book — Shakespeare, The Man Who Pays The Rent — she said, seriously: ‘That packing stuff holds its shape rather well.’
Friend and co-author Brendan O’Hea quipped: ‘Your grandson Sammy calls you the most childish person he knows.’
Dench recalled that she used to play pranks on actor Geoffrey Palmer on the set of the TV series As Time Goes By.
‘We used to get there early, before the director. When you are rehearsing for TV, the sets are huge, with lots of different rooms with furniture everywhere.
‘We used to go and hide in the furniture and jump out on Geoffrey Palmer.’
Good to see Jamie Oliver back on our screens with his 5 Ingredient Meals, on Channel 4. But what happened to his brother-in-law Paul Hunt — married to Jamie’s sister Anna-Marie — who ran his business empire until disaster struck?
In 2021, two years after the celebrity chef’s Jamie’s Italian business collapsed, Hunt was out of the door and resigned from around two dozen companies in the Oliver empire.
I’m told that things are still supremely awkward at family get-togethers. To make matters even more excruciating, the families live just around the corner from each other in Essex.
Cynthia’s tangled up in love – again
Actress Cynthia Nixon is having a run of doomed love affairs on screen. First, there was her romance with Che in And Just Like That, which managed to irk fans of the Sex And The City franchise and end badly.
And now comes another unexpected entanglement: this time in the second series of Sky Atlantic drama The Gilded Age, written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes.
In the show, set in New York in the 1880s, Nixon (pictured above) plays Ada, the downtrodden, ‘kind but not clever’ younger sister of Agnes (played by Christine Baranski), who married well and is worth a fortune.
Decades after one solitary dalliance, Ada takes everyone by surprise by falling head over heels in love — but no spoilers here as to with whom.
Fellowes said: ‘Well, you know, love is a pretty fundamental part of most of our lives. The greatest mistakes we ever make, and the times we make most fools of ourselves, are usually connected in some way to love.
Cynthia Nixon in the second series of Sky Atlantic drama The Gilded Age plays Ada, plays the downtrodden, ‘kind but not clever’ younger sister of Agnes
‘And I feel that it’s good to show your characters in love, as it allows you to take them into areas where they wouldn’t normally go if they were feeling sane and sensible.
‘We use love in this season to show who Ada really is. We have seen one side of her, as the dominated sister of Agnes.
‘But there’s more to her than that. She has an emotional dimension that we’ve glimpsed, I think, at times, but never really seen. And in this season, we do see it.’
Ominously, he adds: ‘Of course, in drama, happiness is usually the business of a moment. Happily ever after is what comes when the drama is finished.’
The show streams from October 29.
Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies
Telly Dragon Sara’s firm is £1 million in the red
Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies is a big hit with viewers for her no-nonsense business smarts on the show. However it can be revealed that all is not entirely rosy in her own business.
Documents filed at Companies House earlier this year show that the company which made her reputation — Crafter’s Companion — is more than £1 million in the red.
In notes to the accounts for the year to March 2022, the directors describe the period as ‘challenging’, noting that one major customer went into administration and that the effects of Covid continue to affect the business. High freight costs and tariffs on Chinese imports have also had an impact.
The company’s auditors say: ‘The group and the company has suffered from reduced sales orders post year end and is in breach of banking covenants. As stated … these events or conditions indicate that material uncertainty exists that may cast doubt on the group and company’s ability to continue as a going concern.’
A loan was taken out to prop up Crafter’s Companion in July 2023. Accounts show a loss for the year of £1.27 million, compared with the previous year’s £231,000 profit.
Davies joined Dragons’ Den in 2019, when she was only 35, becoming the youngest dragon.
Crafter’s Companion was founded when she was a university student and spotted a gap in the market for an envelope-making tool which could be used by card makers.
She designed the gadget and had a local joiner make them from MDF. The company now employs more than 190 staff.
Davies has won more than 25 business awards and in 2016 was recognised for services to the economy with an MBE.
She appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 and this year was a judge on The Ultimate Wedding Planner for the BBC.
A spokesperson said: ‘Whilst these are incredibly challenging trading times, there is significant confidence in Crafter’s Companion; hence the financial investment. This will support the company’s next stage of growth without passing any cost on to the consumer.’
Stage star Frances Ruffelle — the original Eponine in Les Miserables — has found love with a friend she’s known for 26 years, after the pair went out for lockdown walks.
Norman ‘Beausy’ Bowman is a West End star who has appeared in Mamma Mia and 42nd Street.
In an interview with Broadway World, Frances, 58, said: ‘We first met in Les Mis. Beausy was in the cast and we became friends . . . not lovers. But the friendship continued and suddenly lockdown happened, and we went for some walks, and before you know it, we’re living in the country together.’
Ruffelle and her new flame have a double act — Frankie & Beausy — which is in London, at the Crazy Coqs, on November 20.
Succession star Brian Cox says he was the worst stage manager in the history of theatre when he worked for Dundee Rep in his youth.
‘I was terrible! I’d be prompting and I’d have the book in front of me and I’d be on page 12. Meanwhile, the rest of the cast were on page 23.
‘So I’d be sitting there, daydreaming, and there’s a tap on my shoulder. And I’d go: “Oh, yes?” And it’s the actress, and she says: “Telephone!” I said: “For me?” She said: “No, on stage.”
‘I’d forgotten to ring the telephone for the play.’
