The little girl who was seriously injured in last November’s knife attack on Parnell Square is ‘getting stronger’ as her parents mark her sixth birthday. After 281 days in Temple Street Hospital, the little girl was discharged to go home to her loved ones last month, and while her recovery continues, her parents confirmed that […]
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FORMER EastEnders star Saffron Coomber looks unrecognisable 12 years on from the BBC soap as her new ITV show Three Little Birds is axed after one series.
The actress, 29, was apart of the hit soap from 2012-2013 and played the role of Alexa Smith in the show.
Her character was best known for her friendship with Lola Pearce played by Danielle Harold and became the reason Lola lost custody of daughter Lexi Pearce.
Alexa first appears in Albert Square when Lola sees her with a group of friends and recognises her from their time together in a care home.
12 years on from her stint on the hit soap Saffron looks unrecognisable the actress has ditched her long curly locks for a new short chic hairstyle.
The EastEnders star often shares glam pics of her everyday life with her followers online.
As well as her role in the long – running BBC soap fans may remember her from a famed BBC children’s show.
The TV star starred in Tracy Beaker spin off Tracy Beaker Returns and played the role of Sapphire Fox.
Sapphire first appeared in the show back in 2010 and was a resident of Elm Tree House care home and was the oldest of the children.
She enacted as a guide and an older sister to the other children, especially Harry Jones who saw her as a mother figure.
The London-born actress eventually left the show in 2012 and went on to feature on other the TV programmes such as Holby City, Youngers and Strike.
Last year, Saffron bagged a role in the now axed ITV drama which lasted just one series on the airwaves.
Three Little Birds was a six-part limited series, created by comedian Sir Lenny Henry that is inspired from his very own family history.
The programme first made its way onto screens in October 2023, and was a loose depiction of his mother’s journey to the UK in the 1950s.
Despite plenty of ideas for new instalments the broadcaster decided not to commission another series.
This left the Comic Relief co-founder enraged, hitting out at ITV in the wake of the cancellation.
The TV legend told The Guardian: “These days, it seems that many black dramas only get one series.
“There are numerous examples of this – and sadly, Three Little Birds is just one more in that same category.”
He also claimed that he had more to give and he was already planning future storylines for the hit show.
Sir Lenny added: “We were only just getting to know Rochelle Neil, Saffron Coomber, Yazmin Belo and Javone Prince and their stellar performances as Leah, Chantrelle, Hosanna and Aston.
“The audience reaction was amazing and I had some really good storylines planned for their characters.”
ROYAL legends have told how they saw a “pile of bodies” when the future King Charles was almost shot.
Prince Charles, as he was then known, was targeted by protester David Kang at an Australia Day speech in Sydney in 1994.
Kang, then 23, fired two blank shots from a starting pistol – but for a moment onlookers thought he had tried to kill Charles.
Veteran Sun royal snapper Arthur Edwards recounted the “terrifying” attack at our first ever Royal Exclusive show.
He was joined by former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond – who shared her own memories of the chilling scenes.
Arthur said: “I was walking back to start my pool – when you assembled to take photographs of an event.
“I heard these two shots go off – I ran around the front and saw a pile of bodies.
“I thought, my God, Charles is under that. I rushed up onto the stage and this policeman threw me right off.”
But Arthur said he glimpsed an unruffled Charles straightening his suit and cufflinks before the prince was bundled away.
Jennie added: “We’d all gone to get a transcript of an important speech he was going to make later that night.
“It was a bit of a boring event he was at and I thought I’d go back to the hotel and start doing a piece.
“I realised I’d left my handbag back with the cameraman so I ran back to get it.
“Then BANG – I thought ‘What’s happening?’ It was terrifying. I remember people rushing and photographers falling over.”
Kang planned the stunt as a protest against the treatment of desperate Cambodian refugees in Australian detention camps.
He jumped a fence and ran onto the stage – firing a shot at Charles as the prince walked towards the lectern.
The 23-year-old fired another shot before he crashed into the lectern and was tackled to the ground by cops.
Fifteen policemen and bodyguards piled onto Kang while the unhurt Charles was pulled off the stage.
Onlooker Ian Kiernan said Charles was “cool as a cucumber” throughout the stunt.
Charles’s senior personal protection officer Superintendent Colin Trimming was praised for throwing himself in front of the prince.
Kang was found guilty of threatening unlawful violence and sentenced to 500 hours of community service.
He is now a successful barrister in Sydney and is married with two children.
In a 2005 interview, he said: “What happened 11 years ago was an extremely traumatic experience.
“I have certainly moved on in my life and now I have become a barrister here in Sydney.”
The pair spoke on our first Royal Exclusive Live show, which you can watch in the player above and on our YouTube channel.
The event was hosted on Friday in front of a live audience of more than 100 special guests.
MEGHAN Markle was also branded a 'diva' on the show, while Prince Harry was dubbed 'deplorable' for his book Spare.
Jennie Bond blasted: “He was a very silly boy to write Spare, it was deplorable and stupid. He’s done the blood letting, now we want to move on.”
Meanwhile the pair said Meghan couldn’t hack royal life in the same way Princess Kate can – and revealed she was ‘difficult’ with the media.
Sun legend Arthur also regaled memories of his royal tours with Charles and Diana – and implied Harry and Meghan may be putting on a show like they did before their marriage crumbled.
During the hour-long event, the royal experts also discussed the future of a slimmed-down monarchy, shared tales of behind-the-scenes encounters with key royals and opened up about Kate and Charles’ cancer battles.
You can watch the full Royal Exclusive Live show in the player above and on our YouTube channel.
NFL fans are locked in an online debate about what CeeDee Lamb said to Dak Prescott on Sunday night.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Lamb was seen on NBC’s game broadcasting saying something towards his quarterback.
And lip-reading experts have been working overtime since the clip surfaced Sunday.
Lamb looked frustrated as he turned towards where Prescott was sat on the bench in the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
And he had a few words for the Cowboys quarterback.
One claimed that Lamb said, “Subpar throw. Subpar. Deada**.”
But another thought the NFL wide receiver said, ““Jump balls, four. Jump balls, I gotchu.”
Fans have debated Lamb’s words on social media, and turned into lip-reading experts.
“He clearly said ‘jump balls, four’,” one adamant fan said.
“My money is on jump balls,” another agreed.
While a third added, “Anyone thinking CeeDee Lamb uses the word ‘subpar’ is not serious.”
But there were others who thought Lamb said “subpar” to his quarterback.
One fan said, “To me it looks like ‘Subpars, foe (four). Subpar. Deada**.'”
“I’m going with this ‘Subpar throw. Subpar tonight.'” another commented.
Dallas won the game 20-17 with a late touchdown pass from Prescott to Jalen Tolbert.
With less than a minute remaining in the first half, Prescott tried to find Lamb in the end zone.
August 1 - Hall of Fame Game - Houston Texans vs Chicago Bears
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January 11 – Playoffs begin
February 9 – Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Louisiana
But his pass instead landed comfortably in the hands of Steelers defensive back Donte Jackson instead.
That’s what led to the interaction between Lamb and Prescott on the sideline.
NBC commentators Cris Collinsworth and Mike Tirico also tried to guess what was being said.
Collinsworth concluded, “Something’s wrong. CeeDee Lamb at the end of that.
“I’ll let you read your own lips. Dak doesn’t react at all. It doesn’t look good.”
While Mike Tirico echoed the sentiment, adding: “Not a bit. Not a bit.”
A HEROIC Israeli special forces soldier told of driving Hamas terrorists from a kibbutz and storming a hostage tunnel site.
Barak Deri, 33, battled bloodthirsty fanatics for months before he was hit by a grenade and multiple gunshots.
His life changed forever on October 7 last year after he discovered propaganda footage shared online by extremist butchers.
Palestinian gunmen had poured over the Gaza border and filmed their shooting of a police car from a mounted pickup truck.
Brave Barak ran straight to his motor to join his unit, as harrowing tales of massacres at Kibbutz Be’eri came in over the phone.
During his journey he received messages from three of his brothers who were taking refuge from killers at the Nova festival.
Barak told The Sun: “As I was heading down south I was starting to receive messages. They will stick with me forever.
“We are a family of five boys and I began to receive messages of goodbye – and their pleas of ‘come to rescue us’.”
Barak’s brother Amit, 26, was shot twice in the leg during his attempt to flee from terrorists, joined by Lahav, 34, and Sahar, 22.
But the soldier was ordered to Kibbutz Be’eri by his commander – as it became clear a full-scale invasion was underway.
He made the agonising decision to join fellow servicemen and take the fight to growing waves of marauding Jihadists.
Barak said: “We were told there is something bigger going on there – and I faced probably one of the most difficult decisions I had to face in my life.
“My choice was whether to go to my injured brother’s location or to go to Kibbutz Be’eri to try and solve something huge that is going on.
“I decided to go to the kibbutz because on the way there I started to see the bodies on the side of the road.
“Despite my brother being injured I understood that there is something way bigger happening – something we’ve never seen before.”
Barak, a reserve operator in the Israel Defence Force (IDF) special forces, came under fire with comrades and was driven off the road.
He said: “On the way three pickup trucks full of terrorists began shooting us. Fortunately they continued driving.
“We were able to get out of the vehicle and start to walk to Kibbutz Be’eri through the forest.”
They trekked more than two miles under the cover of bushes and trees as gunfire crackled out in the distance.
We are a family of five boys and I began to receive messages of goodbye – and their pleas of ‘come to rescue us’
The unit then began gunning down fighters on their entrance to the kibbutz, as the scale of the atrocities became clear.
Barak, a dad to a child of two, remembered: “We shot them. The next thing for us was to go inside.
“There we saw all the atrocities the terrorists had committed, from children, women, men elderly people.
“They had been slaughtered, shot in the living room, in the streets, everywhere.
“A lot of burnt houses you know, the smell of blood, fire and also a lot of sights that probably will stick with me forever.
“There were many incidents that we encountered, civilians that were hidden inside their shelters and the rest of their family that they butchered in the living room.
“It was a very tough day and we had so many firefights with the terrorists, there were hundreds of them.”
As the day’s conflict drew to a close, Barak counted 110 dead terrorists in the kibbutz, with many more fleeing back to Gaza.
He learned his family was safe and were being treated in hospital. But for Barak, the war was only just beginning.
More than 1,200 Israelis were killed on October 7 and hundreds more were kidnapped in the space of 24 hours.
Barak fought to save hostages for months afterwards – and as part of a mission uncovered a transfer site to enemy tunnels.
He said: “We decided to raid this house and to try to save whoever was inside.
“I was supposed to be the first one to enter the room and I knew there was a good chance that I was either gonna get injured or killed.
“Because of that I just took a sheet of paper and I set my affairs in order and wrote letters to my loved ones and make everything clear in my mind, that I will go with a clear heart.
“During an intense firefight a grenade blew up next to me and after my body hit the ground from the blast.
“I got shot several times from the internal room in the house.
“I was lying on the floor and my primary weapon, the barrel had a bullet lodged inside. It was stuck in the barrel which can show you how close the bullets went next to us.
“So I just grabbed a grenade of my own and threw it to the room where I was shot from and after that there was a big explosion, then just quiet and darkness.
“My team waited for me – it was two minutes but it felt like eternity.”
Barak, left with wounds across his stomach and broken legs, said he considered taking his own life to avoid further torture from Hamas.
He woke up fighting for his life on a helicopter with five wounded comrades before being taken to hospital for urgent treatment.
Barak, who must now rely on crutches and a walking stick, says he has no regrets about what took place.
He said: “It took me a very long time to understand if I’m alive or dead. I had a lot of difficulties with it during this long recovery.
“It was one of the most traumatic times of my life because every hour and a half I had morphine injection into my vein. I didn’t have the attention for a song, for a conversation or for a movie, nothing.
“Gradually things got better and better and just two days before my arrival here I got out of the hospital.
“I still have like seven surgeries to go and I will be disabled for the rest of my life, because of this you can see me walking with crutches and a walking stick – but still I have totally no regrets for what happened.
“It was just where I was supposed to be and in many ways it’s one of the greatest things that ever happened to me because it gave a lot of power to my life.
“Being so close to death and living just makes all the important things in life that we all share in common like love and family, makes it more clear and that’s it.
“My decision to come to London on October 7th was the least that I could do. I can’t go back to combat duty anymore. These are historic times for us.”