Ricci quickly disappeared (probably in search of cat food at my neighbour’s). In the distance, I could hear giant waves crashing against the shore – their pounding seemed to have started the moment my better half, ma moitié, left home. Alone again in a foreign land, I felt a sudden chill. While I enjoy solitude, I’m beginning to realise just how much my husband’s presence comforts me like a warm manteau set over my shoulders on a chilly night. What if I go off the rails while he’s gone? Skip our daily walks, linger in bed, and stay glued to YouTube? Suddenly, Ricci reappeared, bounding back from her brief escapade. Ahhh. I remembered that, in addition to my faithful dog, I have my fearless mom just around the side of our bungalow. And there’s Max, his darling Ana, and Jackie, who’ll soon be back from her périple in California. Returning to the kitchen. I removed the day’s loaf from the oven, the warmth and the scent of yeast inviting me to settle in and embrace this ever-shifting nest of ours. I noticed my belle-sœur‘s pairing knife, left at Christmas when she made that mouthwatering salade aux crevettes, avocats et pamplemousse. I’d call Cécile and see if she wants to return and share a favourite walk to les roches plates. I hear the dolphins are back!
“We are so blessed to have this family, and Jean-Marc is a true leader!” Mom toasted, during our farewell lunch for Chief Grape. My eyes locked with his. Leader indeed! The adventures he’s dragged us through! But, oh, the stories he’s given me to share. And now our chef has gone off again, leaving me solo but not alone, and with a mission: to tie up the loose ends on my manuscript about these last 12 months by the sea en famille. My forthcoming book, A Year in a French Life, is a collection of blog stories with full-page colour photos of La Ciotat. Ask for it at your favourite librairie. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed living it – ups and downs, crashing waves and red tape. May it leave you enveloped in a warm Mediterranean hug on a quiet morning somewhere in the south of France.
When Lena Dunham messaged, Megan Stalter lost it. “Like d’uhh,” Stalter is explaining – delighting, really. “Who wouldn’t? I was at home: this really bad apartment in Laurel Canyon [in the Hollywood Hills]. The area is haunted, and it was actually a really scary building, and nothing ever got fixed because apparently in the lease I signed they didn’t have to repair anything! I don’t actually live there now …” Stalter, 34, has a tendency to wander off on tangents. So Dunham?
“OK yes, so we were just about to start filming Hacks again.” The wildly popular, 48-times-Emmy-nominated HBO comedy in which Stalter plays nepo-baby Kayla, a chaotic and kind-hearted talent agent, her total-commitment-to-the-bit characterisation making her a breakout star. “And there Lena was in my DMs.” Stalter opened the message, which said: “I have a project I want to talk to you about.” “That’s when I lost my mind,” she adds. “Panic set in.”
“I’m not,” Stalter clarifies, “a celebrity person. I don’t fangirl over people – but with Lena I do. She’s a creative genius; I’m such a Girls nut, and always felt so connected to her.” In its six seasons, Dunham’s HBO hit transformed television through its unflinching portrayal of millennial women. Eight years since the final episode broadcast, the Dunham buzz hasn’t abated.
Breathe, Stalter had to remind herself. “OK, calm down, diva – ‘project’ is vague. It might be a commercial, an event, a task, maybe.” Not that Stalter was fussy. “Anything she wanted me to do, I would obviously say yes.” Turns out, Dunham didn’t need errands running. “And thank God, honestly.”
Dunham was in the early stages of developing Too Much, her semi-autobiographical Netflix 10-parter, which is released on 10 July. Following Jessica (Stalter), an American thirtysomething workaholic who relocates from New York to England in the deepest throes of heartbreak, the show plays out as an offbeat romcom, with Will Sharpe (The White Lotus, Flowers) playing the indie-musician love interest.
Stalter’s attempts at regional British accents, and a cocaine-fuelled dance break from Richard E Grant, are some of the show’s unexpected highlights. Loosely, it’s based on Dunham’s own experiences: after splitting from music producer Jack Antonoff, she met her now husband, British musician Luis Felber, in London. They wrote Too Much together.
“Jessica is going through a really horrible breakup,” Stalter says, “and this person she was with previously made her feel she’s ‘too much’, and not in a good way. She falls for someone new pretty quickly who does accept who she is and, when she’s surrounded by people who appreciate her, realises she’s yes, a little bit much, in a great way.”
In the show, Dunham plays Jessica’s older sister. “When Lena and I got on Zoom we just clicked. She said right away that if Girls was about sex and discovering who you are, Too Much is a story of love and discovering acceptance. For Lena, like Jessica, finding someone who accepted her the way she is encourages her to embrace herself.”
‘When Lena and I got on Zoom, we just clicked’ … Stalter with Dunham in a scene from the series. Photograph: Ana Blumenkron/Netflix
Pre-Hacks, Dunham had been introduced to Stalter by Andrew Scott, who drops by for a cameo in this series. “From the moment I conceived the character,” Dunham says, “even before I began collaborating with Luis, it was always Meg. I had a feeling that she could be both intensely funny and do something darker and more vulnerable.”
Pre-Hacks, Stalter built a cult social media following, regularly posting clips of kooky skits and characters (small-town butter shop during Pride month; Woman flirts at a bowling alley) that caught Dunham’s eye. “Meg is never looking down on the characters she plays,” she says, “no matter how delusional or silly they may seem. She truly falls in love with, and goes to bat for, whoever she’s playing – and it’s contagious.”
It’s late March when I first meet Stalter, in the lobby of a central London hotel. Shooting on Too Much has wrapped, but it’s early stages in the months-long slog of a press and promo schedule a Dunham x Netflix collab demands. She’s late, 15 minutes maybe, although she’s staying right upstairs. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!” she gushes, all smiles, dropping her teddy bear phone case on the table. “We were working on the ponytail for the day and got carried away! Almond latte?”
Both Stalter and Dunham found bringing Jessica to life an intimate undertaking. Long before shooting started, they spoke extensively about the material and Dunham’s own experiences. Script by script, they’d dissect. “Lena had a small writers’ room where they’d bounce ideas together,” says Stalter, “then after that, it would come to me, and I would have lots of questions: her previous bad relationship; her family; how she was feeling.”
Bed fellows … Will Sharpe and Megan Stalter in Too Much. Photograph: Ana Blumenkron/Netflix
Dunham remembers these well. “Meg is a very intuitive performer,” she tells me, “not method, but she has her method. She asks specific questions that may seem random or left-of-centre and then it always finds its way into the work.”
Stalter made lists of how she and Jessica were similar, then differed. “So, like, in common: we are both very anxious people. Not in common: she’s lost her dad, I haven’t. Jessica is straight and I’m a mostly lesbian bisexual. But I have dated men. And Jessica might not date women, but sexuality is a spectrum … Me and Lena both agreed that if she’d explored a little, maaaaaybe she would have dated women.”
On set, over four months in London, this proximity continued. “If it felt like an emotional scene,” says Stalter, “I’d want a moment just with her, so I felt more connected.” There’s a post-coital scene where Jessica’s sexual self-confidence falters. “Lena and I talked a lot about how, after a breakup, no matter how hot or beautiful you feel and are, you can be so beaten down that insecurity hits.”
The pair spoke extensively, too, about the show’s title, with its heap of gendered connotations. Is “you’re too much” a phrase she’s had lobbed in her direction? Stalter furrows her brow. “Excuse me, sir, no; people see me as calm, cool and collected.” Three seconds of deadpan, before the laughter erupts. “I am definitely seen as too much. Any loud woman will be told she’s too much at some point. We are made to feel small or too big, sometimes both at the same time, unless we’re neatly in a perfect box. A lot of women experience it: me and Lena were both told we were too much, but then decided we like that about ourselves. I think it’s so sexy to be loud and funny, weird and strange, silly and goofy. It was at school that I realised those traits are often welcomed in boys, but not girls.”
‘I’m a loud woman from a loud family’ … Megan Stalter. Photograph: Nolwen Cifuentes/The Guardian
At the Stalter family home in Cleveland, Ohio, this just wasn’t the case. “I’m a loud woman from a loud family: 20 cousins, mostly women, a few males thrown in, I guess.” Dad’s a tattoo artist, and mum a nurse. “I have two sisters, a brother and lots of aunts. These are funny, opinionated, not-very-quiet women with big personalities – and that was totally normal. So it was, umm, interesting to then be in the real world where women are made to feel they can’t be those things.” She scrunches her face, lugging her voice up an octave: “We’re told to be polite and small and dainty.” Pitch back down. “But that’s not me, girl.”
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She found this first at school. “I was a cheerleader, but like, a nerdy one. Not popular. Teachers made me feel small and not smart. I found myself shrinking into myself, getting quiet and nervous, except in drama and performance. I’d never get good parts; people thought I was bad, but I could be myself at least.”
Through her late teens, Stalter tried all sorts at community college. Teaching wasn’t a good fit. Neither was nursing. “Listen, nurses are incredible,” she says, “but I’m not supposed to be a nurse. I pass out at blood. Emotionally I was into it, but practically, it was not working.” Nothing was sticking. “OK so I also love Jesus,” she continues, no change in pace. “I’m a real God-girlie. If I wasn’t going to do something I loved, I wanted to do something that helped God. I tried some mission work, and stuff with my church.” She attended a Pentecostal church from a young age, and aged 20 spent six months with a Christian youth organisation in South America. She gave Bible school a go, too. “I tried for several years, but I really missed performing. I thought: ‘If this is in me, maybe it’s my service. Maybe God wants me to do what I really want to do, and share it with the world.’”
Stalter joined a local improv class. “I thought I was so good,” she says, “but everyone there for some reason kept telling me I wasn’t? Later on, a friend told me I was a bit like Michael Scott in The Office: walking on and messing things up. But I always felt deluded in my talent and how special I was, which really kept me going until I actually got good.”
Dog days … Too Much. Photograph: Ana Blumenkron/Netflix
Aged 24, she moved to Chicago to pursue standup. “And I performed for years there. It went OK, but not much was happening for me.” Everything changed when she started posting – an art for which Stalter has a knack – launching a spoof self-titled online talkshow. “I was on Instagram live every night with a new theme. I’d set up weird things: ‘Crazy trip to Paris night’; be a travel agent and pretend to book things. That is when it all took off.” In 2019, she moved to New York, and the gigs kept coming: Hacks, indie film Cora Bora, sell-out standup shows and now Too Much.
In June, we speak again over Zoom, Stalter now back at home in Los Angeles in a thankfully ghost-free residence, with her girlfriend. “Oh, and our two kitties, and a terrier who is really attached to me. Too attached, really. The separation anxiety is a problem.”
It’s intense, Los Angeles right now: anti-ICE protests and the general bad Trump vibes percolating. “It’s really upsetting,” Stalter says, “devastating and scary.” She’s been to some marches. “People have to keep coming together to protest and support one another. We’re fighting for each other.” Throwing herself into Too Much has been a much-welcomed escape.
It’s no affront to Stalter’s range to see a through-line from her characters: from those early viral creations all the way to Jessica. Whether self-invented for standup and socials, or brought to life from scripts on screen, they tend to be big, bold, slightly berserk. “What,” she’s grinning, “am I not as crazy as you expected? I like to play people who are nervous-confident: women who have a level of self-love but are falling apart and pretend they’re not. I do a lot of standup with a persona I’ve built, too, where the character – me – pretends to be really talented but the show crumbles.”
Agent of chaos … Stalter and Hannah Einbinder in Hacks. Photograph: HBO
Stalter sees some of herself in these characters. “I’m wild in that way,” she says, “although I’m not horrible, I’m actually very nice. But I feel so confident on stage acting this crazy bitch. Something inside of me is over the top. When I’m at my most relaxed and comfortable, like on stage, it also comes out of me.” Playing characters who often move through the world unconcerned by judgment has made Stalter reflect.
“There’s something really freeing about playing someone like that,” she believes. “In real life, I’m such a people pleaser. I struggle with wanting everyone to be happy all the time, for them to be happy with me, scared of upsetting someone or having someone be mad at me. It’s my greatest fear: like I’m going to die if someone is mad at me. It’s something I’m working on in therapy.”
Might that be a tricky trait in her industry? Dunham told New York magazine in 2024 she refrained from casting herself as the lead in part because she “was just not up for having my body dissected again”. Too Much is Stalter’s first leading TV role, and it’s a big-hitter: there will be reviews, comparisons to Girls, so much more exposure.
Stalter feigns a look of panic at the prospect. “Wouldn’t it be so funny if I passed out?” She smacks her hand on the table, leaving her latte wobbling. Another smile. She shrugs off the pressure. “I’m a woman comedian who puts stuff on the internet, babe,” comes her reply, “and I’m not skinny. So I’ve already had the meanest stuff said about me. Any woman posting – yes, skinny women, too – will get it. So I’m not worried when someone says something unkind, or doesn’t like me in a show, honestly. I literally have a viral clip that’s me reading out the worst, craziest abuse: ‘Fat white comedian does crazy bomb set.’”
She pauses for a moment. “It’s only in my personal life that I’m a massive people pleaser. If strangers say they hate Too Much, or me, whatever: I think I’m hot, I love how I look, and I love my comedy. I am who I am, and can’t be anything but my loud self.”
Birthday wishes go out to Kevin Hart, Sylvester Stallone and all the other celebrities with birthdays today. Check out our slideshow below to see photos of famous people turning a year older on July 6th and learn an interesting fact about each of them.
Top celebrity birthdays on July 6, 2025
Actor Burt Ward, left, who played Robin in the 1960s television series “Batman,” poses with a man dressed as Batman after the character received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the first such honor for a fictional superhero, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Actor Burt Ward turns 80
Fun fact: Has two daughters, Lisa and Melody
Sylvester Stallone arrives at the premiere of “Sly,” at Roy Thomson Hall during the Toronto International Film Festival, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Toronto. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP)Arthur Mola/Invision/AP
Actor Sylvester Stallone turns 79
Fun fact: Was the voice of King Shark in “The Suicide Squad”
Geoffrey Rush, left, and Gary Oldman appear in the audience at the 24th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Invision/AP)Vince Bucci/Invision/AP
Actor Geoffrey Rush turns 74
Fun fact: Won an Oscar for his leading role in the film “Shine”
50 Cent performs during Festival d’ete de Quebec on Friday, July 5, 2024, in Quebec City. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)Amy Harris/Invision/AP
Rapper 50 Cent turns 50
Fun fact: His middle name is James
Host Kevin Hart speaks during the BET Awards on Monday, June 9, 2025, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Actor Kevin Hart turns 46
Fun fact: Hosted the 2025 BET Awards
Eva Green poses for photographers upon arrival for the premiere of the film ‘Battlefield’ during the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP
Actress Eva Green turns 45
Fun fact: Starred in the 2024 film “Dirty Angels”
More celebrities with birthdays today
Singer Gene Chandler is 85. Country singer Jeannie Seely is 85. Actor Fred Dryer is 79. Actor Shelley Hack (TV’s “Charlie’s Angels”) is 78. Actor Allyce Beasley (“Moonlighting”) is 74. Actor Grant Goodeve (“Eight is Enough”) is 73. Jazz trumpeter Rick Braun is 70. Actor Casey Sander (“Grace Under Fire”) is 70. Actor Jennifer Saunders (“Absolutely Fabulous”) is 67. Drummer John Keeble of Spandau Ballet is 66. Actor Pip Torrens (“The Crown”) is 65. Actor Brian Posehn (“Just Shoot Me”) is 59. Actor Robb Derringer (“Days of Our Lives”) is 58. “CBS This Morning” co-host John Dickerson is 57. Rapper Inspectah Deck of Wu-Tang Clan is 55. NBC Sports correspondent and former “Good Morning America” host Josh Elliott is 54. Rapper-actor 50 Cent is 50. Actors Tia and Tamera Mowry (“Sister, Sister”) are 47. Drummer Chris Wood of Bastille is 40. Actor Jeremy Suarez (“Bernie Mac”) is 35.
Other popular or historical birthdays on July 6th
Henry Ford Sinclair, Teapot Dome Scandal
Merv Griffin, tv host and producer
Janet Leigh, actress
14th Dalai Lama (90)
George W. Bush, 43rd U.S. president (79)
with The Associated Press
Celebrity fun facts
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Popular lists: Robert Downey Jr. fun facts | Emma Watson fun facts | Jason Momoa fun facts | Miley Cyrus fun facts
Check out our full list of more than 40 celebrity fun facts.
Movie and TV fun facts & more
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Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one. The category offers some creative answers, and once you understand the theme, the unscrambling comes easily. If you need hints and answers, read on.
I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: My hero!
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Marvel and DC.
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
SPEED, FLIGHT, HEALING, STRENGTH, INVISIBILITY
Today’s Strands spangram
The completed NYT Strands puzzle for July 6, 2025, #490.
NYT/Screenshot by CNET
Today’s Strands spangram is SUPERPOWER. To find it, look for the S that’s four letters to the right on the bottom row, and wind up.
Quick tips for Strands
#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an “S” or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.
#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.
#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.
Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s NYT Connections puzzle could be tough. That purple category almost sounds like one of the goofy TikTok parody Connections categories, like “18th century whaling ships spelled backwards and minus three letters.” That’s not the category, but it feels a little bit like it is. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Get the kiln ready.
Green group hint: Tiny bit.
Blue group hint: Not nurses or lawyers.
Purple group hint: Hoo boy. Let’s say, a portion of these words sound like a body part.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Fired objects.
Green group: Particle.
Blue group: Drs.
Purple group: Ending with homophones of parts of the leg.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The completed NYT Connections puzzle for Sunday, July 6, 2025, #756.
NYT/Screenshot by CNET
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is fired objects. The four answers are ceramics, china, pottery and ware.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is particle. The four answers are crumb, grain, morsel and shred.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is Drs. The four answers are Dre, Evil, Pepper and Seuss.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is ending with homophones of parts of the leg. The four answers are crypto, decaf, Disney and Prussian.
Crypto = toe
Decaf = calf
Disney = knee
Prussian = shin
Quick tips for Connections
#1: Say the clue words out loud, pausing before and after each. That helps you hear the words in the context of a phrase. The Connections editors love to group words together that are used in similar phrasing, like ____ Up.
#2: Don’t go for the obvious grouping. These editors are smart. Once, they offered SPONGE, BOB, SQUARE and PANTS in the same puzzle. None of those words were in the same category. If you like, hit the “shuffle” button to give yourself a different perspective on the words.
#3: Break down any compound words and look for similarities. “Rushmore” was once in a puzzle where the connection was that each word started with the name of a rock band.
YONGCHUAN – Fantasy action film Umro Ayyar: A New Beginning captured international attention at prestigious Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Film Festival in China.
Produced by VR Chili Production, the film is being hailed as a bold step forward in Pakistan’s cinematic storytelling and genre innovation. Inspired by legendary trickster-hero Umro Ayyar from classical Persian and Urdu literature, the film blends South Asian folklore with high-octane action, modern visual effects, and a compelling narrative that bridges tradition with contemporary cinematic style.
Umro Ayyar marks one of first times Pakistani film entered global fantasy action arena with a fully realized superhero grounded in local mythology. Its selection at the SCO Film Festival not only showcases Pakistan’s creative capabilities but also reflects the growing appetite for culturally rooted stories that resonate with a global audience.
Festival representatives called it more than just a film screening, as it is powerful cultural exchange. Umro Ayyar brings something fresh to the fantasy genre, a unique voice that reflects the heritage, values, and imagination of the region.
The film’s reception at festival sparked excitement among viewers and critics alike, with many praising its production quality, storytelling depth, and the ambition to create a homegrown cinematic universe.
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou bumped into his former co-star, Canadian actor Edison Chen, while both of them were in London recently. And their rare joint appearance together took fans down memory lane.
The two are best known for starring together in Hong Kong street racing film Initial D (2005). Chou, 46, played the lead Takumi Fujiwara, while Chen, 44, took on the role of Ryosuke Takahashi, leader of racing team Red Suns.
The film, based on the Japanese manga series of the same name, also starred Japanese actress Anne Suzuki, as well as Hong Kong actors Anthony Wong and Shawn Yue.
Edison Chen (left) and Jay Chou in Hong Kong street racing film Initial D (2005).
PHOTO: SHAW ORGANISATION
On July 4, Chou posted on Instagram two photos of him and Chen in front of Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara’s pictures. They were attending an exhibition of Nara’s artworks in London.
The Mandopop star also uploaded two movie stills of him and Chen in Initial D, and a fictional conversation between their two characters in the film.
Ryosuke Takahashi: Would you like to join my team?
Takumi Fujiwara: Sure!
Ryosuke Takahashi: You transfer 300 yuan via WeChat first!
Takumi Fujiwara: …………
“Transfer 300 yuan via Wechat” was a meme from a video clip which went viral online. A netizen claimed to have received a voice message request from Chen, which turned out to be a prank by someone else.
Chou’s post attracted more than 296,000 “likes” and has been shared more than 226,000 times as at July 6 afternoon.
The singer completed the Hong Kong leg of his Carnival World Tour on June 29. He then headed to Britain to watch the ongoing 2025 Wimbledon Championships in London with his wife, Taiwanese-Australian model-actress Hannah Quinlivan.
Chen, who was also in London watching the tennis competition, was in Taipei in December 2024 to attend Chou’s concert at the Taipei Dome.
Chou recently sparked speculation that he could have a role in Hong Kong director Stephen Chow’s new movie Women’s Soccer, after they posted on social media on July 2 a photo of them together.
Chou was seen in the picture with his foot on a soccer ball, with Chow mentioning his movie Shaolin Soccer (2001) in the post.
Actress Margaret John, who died in 2011, pictured in the doorway of the home where her character Doris lived in Gavin & Stacey
Gavin and Stacey enthusiasts have long flocked to Barry Island to have a nose at the show’s filming locations.
But now, fans of the much-loved comedy series have the chance to take it one step further, as the property which acted as the home of the show’s iconic character Doris has gone up for sale.
The two-bed mid-terrace on Trinity Street in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, neighbours the houses that also played host to Bryn and Gwen and Stacey.
But before you ask – no, it doesn’t come with a salad.
Sarah Lawrence
The property on Trinity Street neighbours is next door to the home where Gwen and Stacey lived in the show
Beloved Doris, played by the actress Margaret John, was a friend and next door neighbour of the Shipman family.
Following John’s death in 2011, the show featured a storyline that Doris had left the house to Gavin and Stacey in her will.
Doris was known for her frankness, as well as for refusing to make the salad for Neil the Baby’s christening.
Viewers may recognise the rooms inside the property from the 2019 Christmas special, when Gavin and Stacey hosted both families from Essex and Barry and extended the dining table into the living room.
The kitchen in particular saw some chaos, too, as Uncle Bryn had a meltdown over cooking Christmas dinner, and took to using walkie talkies to organise his timings and communicate with Gwen.
‘Where’s the salad?’
A video tour of the property, posted online by Chris Davies Estate Agents, has so far racked up nearly 40k likes, with one fan commenting: “That’s not Doris’ house, there is no talc in the bathroom.”
While several others asked the all important question: “Where’s the salad?”
Andrew Walton, managing director of the agency, said the interest had been “excellent as a result of the history in the property”.
But he added: “When you whittle it down to genuine enquiries and those that are financially qualified there is a much smaller number.”
Rightmove
Uncle Bryn communicated with Gwen using walkie talkies to make Christmas dinner during the 2019 Christmas special
Uncle Bryn’s house also went “viral” online when it went up for sale in 2023, with many fans getting excited at the thought of owning the ultimate memorabilia.
Yet some fans expressed their sadness at the latest sale, as they said it “really is the end” of the comedy show after its iconic Christmas finale in 2024.
But we all know, by rights, Doris’ house belongs to Nessa.
TV chef, artist and “talented rogue”, Peter Russell-Clarke, has died at the age of 89.
The host of the 1980s cooking show, Come and Get It, died peacefully on Friday with his wife of 65 years, Jan, and his two children, Peter and Wendy and their families, by his side.
His close friend Beverley Pinder said Russell-Clarke died from complications after a stroke.
“Adieu, Peter Russell-Clarke – the lovable larrikin artist and gentleman,” the PR executive and former Miss Universe Australia said in a statement. “We know him best as one of Australia’s first TV cooks. But Peter Russell-Clarke was a phenomenon – years ahead of his time.”
Born in the Great Depression, Russell-Clarke became a political cartoonist, creative director, actor, restaurateur, food ambassador for the UN and author of almost 40 recipe books, she said – in addition to his TV presenting.
“The mischievous Aussie larrikin with a full beard and eyes that twinkled found his happy place in television in the 70s and 80s,” she said.
“His lexicon, while teaching generations of Aussies how to cook, was peppered with ‘g’days’, ‘rippers’ and ‘you beauts’”, she said, adding that he often told viewers: “Whether you are cooking or painting, follow your imagination.”
According to the statement, Russell-Clarke once lived on the streets of Melbourne, foraging for discarded food behind Florentino restaurant on Bourke Street.
Pinder told Guardian Australia she had known Russell-Clarke since she was 22.
“The magic of Peter was legendary – it was magnetic,” she said. “He fascinated me. The way he engaged with people and kids, that easygoing, laconic style, making everyone feel so at ease, just won the hearts of generations of Australians.”
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“That Bohemian style made people feel so easy and connected all around him. I have two paintings of his and I’ll cherish those until the day I die.”
His collaborator, the former senator, Derryn Hinch, posted on social media platform X:
“G’Day. Me ol’ mate, Peter Russell-Clarke, the Egg Man, has died. He really was a talented likable rogue.”
In 1854, the Republican Party was formally established at a meeting in New York City.
In 1885, French bacteriologist Louis Pasteur inoculated a human being for rabies for the first time — a boy, who had been bitten by a dog. The youngster didn’t develop rabies.
In 1919, a British dirigible landed at New York’s Roosevelt Field to complete the first airship crossing of the Atlantic. Six hours into the flight, the R-34’s commander discovered a stowaway.
In 1923, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.
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Music legend Louis Armstrong entertains his wife, Lillian, in front of the Sphinx during a trip to Egypt in 1961. Photo by UPI
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In 2021, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Mary Simon would be the country’s first Indigenous governor general.
