Table of contents for 13 - 2016 in Best

In this age of on-demand viewing, it’s rare that a scheduled show gets everyone hooked at the same time, and even rarer that it sparks conversation. I love a drama that gets us talking. If you haven’t already seen the first couple of episodes, watch The A Word (BBC1, Tues, 9pm). It features Christopher Eccleston, but the real star of the show is young Max Vento, who is superb as an autistic five-year-old shunned by his school friends for being ‘odd’. The moving plot follows him and his family as they come to terms with his diagnosis, and has won praise from families who have been through similar experiences. While most of us struggle to imagine how we’d cope if this were our child, Marion Burns makes a huge difference…

PRIVATE LIFE She may have won 10 Grammys and an Oscar, but privacy-protecting singer Adele Adkins does not always love the limelight. ‘People think I hate being famous,’ she admitted. ‘I don’t, but I’m really frightened of it. ‘I think it’s really toxic and easy to be dragged into.’ It is why the girl from Tottenham, now worth an estimated £50 million, prefers to ‘keep it real’. She still hangs out with the friends she made as a teenager, growing up in a flat with her mum, Penny, to whom she is exceptionally close. In fact, she’s so down-toearth it’s easy to forget her worldwide fame that means Adele must be trying desperately to hold on to some semblance of normality in her life. Just days after she revealed that…

Sally discovered she was fighting breast cancer off-screen just as her Coronation Street character also found out she had the illness, in 2010. Now, the adoring mum-of-three is in great health, loving life and dreaming of a world without breast cancer. A long-standing patron of Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention, Sally – stunning in a floorlength, dark blue satin gown – attended the Genesis FUNKraiser at the Hilton, Manchester, alongside fellow Corrie star Kym Marsh. She took time out to talk to Best about life, love and the charity that’s closest to her heart… TWIST OF FATE BID FOR LIFE Sally, tell us about your close relationship with Genesis and its work – it means a lot, doesn’t it? It’s a charity I’d always been fond of, even before I fell…

ROYAL RELATIONS Although Fergie only ever admitted being ‘good friends’ with Manuel Fernandez, insiders said she was ‘besotted’ with the half-Spanish, half-Irish internet entrepreneur, who is eight years her junior. When he ended their relationship a few weeks ago, but promising to remain friends, a pal of the Duchess, 56, admitted, ‘She’s very upset and tearful. She thought this one was for keeps, but it’s not to be.’ In September, the couple were seen together at Bob Geldof’s French Riviera wedding, holding hands as they walked barefoot along the beach. They were also spotted earlier at the Cannes Film Festival, on Centre Court at Wimbledon and holidaying in Spain. But it seems that like Sarah Ferguson’s previous exes, Manuel found it hard to cope with being in the spotlight and…

LIFE AFTER HEARTACHE Claire King is very much like her character Erica Holroyd – an incredibly attractive woman with a throaty laugh, thick blonde hair, feline eyes and a forgiving heart. On-screen, she’s made peace with former partner Nick Tilsley for his affair with factory boss Carla, despite it ending their relationship. Off-screen, she forgave the woman who slept with her real-life husband (former Emmerdale actor Peter Amory), ending her 10-year marriage. But, although she says ‘it’s all water under the bridge now’, the betrayal has left deep scars. ‘When we broke up, I put on a brave face, but inside, I was dying,’ she admits. ‘The thing is, you can’t force someone to stay with you. If a man wants to run free, let him – you can’t be…

Griddled tuna with garlic bean purée & gremolata SERVES 4 • 2 x 400g cans of butter beans in water • 2tbsp olive oil • 1 onion, finely chopped • 1 garlic clove, finely chopped • 4 tuna steaks, each approx. 200g • Salt and freshly ground black pepper • Extra virgin olive oil, to garnish GREMOLATA • 2 garlic cloves • Pinch of salt • Finely grated zest of 2 lemons • 6tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley • A griddle pan 1. First, make the gremolata. Crush the garlic cloves with a pinch of salt until a paste. Mix together with the lemon zest and parsley and set aside. 2. Drain the beans, reserving 4 tbsp of the bean water. Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a…

1 The ace of base Clinique Foundation Brush, £24 A perfect base couldn’t be easier if you use this flat, stiff brush, which works less product more effectively all over your face. Start from the nose outwards until you get your ideal coverage. You can also use this brush for adding cream contours. TOOL TIP Pop a little foundation on the back of your hand to warm it up, before taking it up with your brush. The body heat helps it to melt seamlessly into the skin. 2 The flawless finisher Kiko Face 106 Brush, £14.90 You’ve laid the foundations – now buff over your whole face with this brush. The softer, more bendable bristles glide over your skin to create a flawless finish. This tool and your foundation brush…

1 DAWN’S GONDOLA MOMENT COMEDIAN DAWN FRENCH HAS BEEN REMINISCING ABOUT THE WEDDING PROPOSAL FROM HER HUSBAND OF TWO YEARS, MARK BIGNELL, 52, ON A VENETIAN GONDOLA. Dawn, 58, told a New Zealand radio show, ‘It was such a cliché, I didn’t expect it! First, Mark engaged the gondolier in a conversation about the sewage system of Venice. The trip lasted 30 minutes, 25 of which were taken up with the sewage talk, and the last five the proposal!’ Not the height of romance, then – but a great story to tell the grandchildren, Dawn. 2 THE WINDSORS! THE QUEEN OF WALFORD, ACTRESS BARBARA WINDSOR, GOT A TOUCH OF THE ROYAL TREATMENT LAST WEEK. EastEnders legend Babs, 78, who plays Peggy Mitchell, was at Buckingham Palace to receive her damehood from…

BODY BATTLES As soon as she lets out that crazy guffaw, you know she’s no imposter. TV presenter Alison Hammond, 41, a big lady with an even bigger personality, has brought her hilarious celebrity interviews to This Morning viewers for 13 years, having bagged the job just two weeks after leaving the Big Brother house in 2002. The bubbly Brummie tells Best about her life and career and – as Chancellor George Osborne’s new Budget unveiled its shock tax on sugary drinks – why Alison’s excited about the prospect of finally trimming down by cutting out the sweet stuff… Hi, Alison! We love you on This Morning. Which celebrity interview would you rate as the best? I loved meeting the actress Renée Zellweger. She’s one of the girls, you want…

NEVER TOO LATE When I read the email that told me my book, The Tea Planter’s Wife, had been picked for the Richard and Judy Book Club, I screamed with excitement. I knew it would be great for my sales – but I had no idea it would change my life. The book shot up the best-seller charts, got to number one, and stayed in the top 10 for 16 weeks. That was last year, but it has hardly sunk in yet. It’s just amazing, and all the more so as I’m 67 years old. I didn’t even start writing seriously till I was 60. I’d always scribbled a bit, but one day I started writing and couldn’t stop. That became my first novel, which I sent to a publishing…

ROSI CHAPMAN has had a passion for beauty for many years, starting her career at House of Fraser and using her knowledge to launch her own brand, Transformulas. While acknowledging that ageing is a concern for many women, her ethos focuses on ‘beauty without surgery’ and great results that don’t involve drastic measures. Rosi has made women’s skincare issues her business. Here, she helps us take the best route to a gorgeous glow. How to ditch a dull appearance • Banish bad habits. Our skin faces many external aggressors that can’t always be helped, such as the sun and the wind, so try to control the factors you can. Start your day with a mug of hot water and a slice of lemon to help flush toxins out and encourage…

THIS WEEK... The most important rule when looking for insurance is to never auto-renew and always shop around annually. Loyalty rarely pays and your insurer relies on apathy to keep making a profit! Your first port of call should be a comparison site as they cover most of the marketplace. It’ll take 10 minutes to do a search, but if you want to be really thorough then try a couple of sites. When searching, play with the variables like excess, no claims bonus and security options (like alarms) to see if they reduce your premium. Some major insurers like Aviva, Direct Line and Zurich only deal with customers direct, so you will need to look at their prices online, too. Many of the cheapest quotes come from insurers who you…

BURGER VS. FRIED CHICKEN DELUXE HAMBURGER WITH CHEESE Calories: 550 Protein: 30g Carbs: 45g Saturated fat: 13g Salt: 2g BOX WITH 4 PIECES OF CHICKEN (1 wing, 1 drumstick, 1 breast, 1 thigh) Calories: 859 Protein: 77g Carbs: 28g Saturated fat: 12g Salt: 7g THE WINNER IS… THE BURGER JACKIE SAYS: Choosing a simple hamburger or cheeseburger can nearly halve the calorie and fat content of your meal. Fried chicken is superhigh in fat and a box can exceed the daily limit for salt. It also contains almost half the daily calorie limit for women! And if you decide to share a larger box, it’s hard to keep track of what you’ve eaten. It’s not just your waistline that’s at risk here – regularly tucking into deep fried food can increase your risk of heart disease. INDIAN VS. CHINESE CHICKEN KORMA (per 350g serving) Calories: 605 Protein: 44g Carbs: 21g Saturated fat: 14g Salt: 2g PILAU RICE (100g serving) Calories: 142 Protein: 2g Carbs: 25g Saturated fat: 3g Salt: 1g SWEET &…

So tell us, what were Sophie’s first impressions of Kate Connor? She didn’t like Kate at first. She thought she was very arrogant – but she got her all wrong! Kate helped Sophie get the jukebox working in the Rovers one night, which broke the ice, and things went from there. Is Sophie aware that her feelings have changed? Well, she’s quite torn, because it’s not that long since her girlfriend, Maddie, died. Also, Kate is engaged to Caz. How does Sophie react when Caz warns her off? She’s shocked at first but refuses to be intimidated. Caz comes across as quite hard, and you wouldn’t want to cross her but she’s in the Army, so Sophie thinks she can’t be all that bad. How does she feel when the…

PHASE ONE Start by reducing your carb intake to 20g per day. Of these, 12-15g carbs should come from ‘foundation vegetables’ to ensure you have enough fibre and nutrients in your diet. Reducing your carb intake prompts the body to burn fat, rather than carbs, for energy. Also aim to have 115-175g protein with each meal. Use fat liberally, too. If you have little weight to lose, stay in phase one for two weeks to initiate the fat-burning process. Stay here for longer if you’ve more to lose, until you are 14lb from your goal weight. PHASE TWO Once you are within 14lb of your goal weight, start to add ‘good’ carbs back into your diet. Introduce them in 5g increments and in a certain order – start with nuts,…

Sadly, we’re getting quite accustomed to seeing Richard Madeley, 59, out and about without his wife, Judy Finnigan, 67. Increasingly, the much-loved couple are cementing the dynamic of Richard as the one who appears at high-profile events and on TV and radio, while Judy is the spotlight-shy homebody. We adored the winning husband-and-wife team who fronted This Morning for over 13 years so, while we’re sure Judy has her reasons, to see them out together so rarely is a shame. The past couple of weeks must have been particularly solitary for Richard. He appeared on This Morning without his wife, then turned up at the Royal Television Society Awards last Tuesday, which he was hosting – again, without Judy. ‘She’s getting over a stinking cold,’ said the dadof-two when Best…

Luther star Idris Elba doesn’t just walk into a room – he swaggers, flashing that neon smile. And he has a lot to be happy about, as Idris has never been more sought after. He’s doing voice work on three animated Disney films, including The Jungle Book. He’s also just picked up two Screen Actors Guild trophies – for Luther, and his role as an African warlord in the hard-hitting film Beasts of No Nation. But growing up on a high-rise estate in Hackney, the 43-year-old admits life could have been very different… You’re so busy! Do you ever stop? I want it all. I still remember times when I’d DJ until 4am, sleep in a van, and have to ask friends if I could come by and take a…

THIS WEEK... NOT A SWEET DEAL FAT CHANCE A SUGAR TAX WILL WORK Eamonn: The headline screamed out of the paper, ‘Men getting so fat stores have to sell 5XL clothes’, as if that was the scandal. The real scandal is that men above size XL are deemed not to exist in the eyes of many shops or clothing ranges. Simply ignoring 19in necks, 52in chests and 60in waists won’t make them go away. Nor will slapping a sugar tax on certain fizzy drinks. So let’s face up to both. Big people should have the dignity and choice of dressing as well as they can at accessible prices. The UK market for plus-size menswear is growing at three times the rate of men’s clothing overall. That’s growth we can feed.…

THIS WEEK... It’s been 12 years since we last saw her in The Edge of Reason but, last week, I caught the trailer for the new Bridget Jones film. This time, it’s called Bridget Jones’s Baby and our heroine (played by Renée Zellweger) is unsure about who the baby daddy is… Good ol’ Bridge – she never lets us down. When it comes to messing up, she is deliciously dippy. The candidates for Dad are her ex, Mark Darcy (aka Colin Firth) who, in my opinion is just the sort of man she needs – he’s kind and finds her idiosyncrasies funny, not embarrassing – and newcomer Jack Qwant (played by Patrick Dempsey). Hugh Grant, who played love rat Daniel Cleaver in the first two films, decided not to be…

KRIS JENNER BLAZER Tailoring’s the perfect way to look slimmer in seconds, and a well-cut blazer is a great cover-up on chillier spring days. TROUSERS Not a fan of showing your legs? A pair of beautifully cut black trousers will take you from day to night effortlessly. SUNGLASSES Statement shades give any outfit a fresh look. If you’re after a pair that’ll look great all year round, copy Kris and go for aviators. TOP A classic black polo neck looks sophisticated under a smart jacket. CLUTCH A mini clutch looks cute and classy, you just have to remember to cut down on clutter! OUT ON THE TOWN A tailored jacket that fits close to the body is a great way to show off a curvy figure. Choose one without pockets…

As Simon prepares to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Britain’s Got Talent, expect some big surprises – not least a singing dog! Tony Cowell looks back at a decade of talent Get ready for performing pooches, sobbing singers, crazy contortionists and as many daring dance troupes as you can handle. Yes, BGT is back, and celebrating its 10th anniversary. Simon told me, ‘It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since we started this show. I want this series to be a celebration of the best of British talent. Over the years, we’ve found a surprising number of acts which the public have taken to their hearts. It’d be nice to see some of them back on the show.’ PAUL POTTS WHEN BGT first came along in 2007, no one…

Both these sets of clues lead to the same answers, revealing in the shaded squares a film starring Julianne Moore (5, 5) WIN £550 STRAIGHT CLUES ACROSS 8 Mishap (8) 9 Endemic person (6) 10 Plot, plan (6) 11 Line parallel to the equator (8) 12 Features of camps (5) 13 Item (5) 14 Follows orders (5) 16 At no time (5) 18 Asian country (5) 20 Garden boundary (5) 25 Most ridiculous (8) 26 Book names (6) 27 Tilted (6) 28 Person given something (8) DOWN 1 Wintry ‘stalactite’ (6) 2 In a straightforward manner (8) 3 Yields (5) 4 Like old bread (5) 5 Bring together (5) 6 Use a needle and thread (6) 7 Clear sign of activity (8) 15 Guy Fawkes ’ blazes (8) 17 Power type…