Fern Britton worries about her housemates as she brings them together for a candid chat in scenes set to air on Tuesday’s episode of Celebrity Big Brother.

The presenter, 66, was emotional on Monday and even went to bed early after planting a snake in Louis Walsh’s bed.

While Big Brother told Fern that the snake would mean Louis would be excluded from eviction, in a shocking twist it actually gave him immunity from the nominations, sending him straight through to the grand final.

And while the former X Factor judge, 71, is on a mission to find out which ‘snake’ planted the snake in his bed, Fern heads to the Diary Room to speak to Big Brother.

Fern says, “I don’t like keeping it a secret and I would like to tell them that it’s me and that’s how it happened and I’m sorry.”

Big Brother then suggests that Fern gather the Housemates and get it off her chest as she struggles to cope with the burden.

As the star asks her housemates to join the couches, they fear the worst and suspect she has decided to leave.

Louis asks, “What’s going on?” as Marisha says, “Something is happening.”

When Fern asks Zeze to come to the benches, Zeze exclaims, “Oh no, you’re going, right?”

Bradley tells David, “Don’t tell me she’s going to say she’s going,” while David adds, “I have a feeling she’s leaving.”

With the celebrities all together, she reassured them as she got her snake secret out of her heart.

She started: “Big Brother allowed me to bring you two together,” before looking at Louis and revealing: “I was given the job of the snake on your pillow.”

But how will Louis react to Fern’s confession? Will he forgive her for trying to get him kicked out of the Celebrity Big Brother house?

On Monday, after the Housemates found the red snake on Louis’ pillow, he was the first to be called to the diary room to nominate.

In a dramatic turn of events, viewers then found out that Big Brother had lied to Fern, when Louis was told he had been chosen for eviction by a fellow housemate. So a snake was placed on his pillow.

He was then told to look in the hatch in front of him, where he found a four-leaf clover, meaning he missed the next round of nominations and guaranteed his place in the grand final.

Determined to find out the culprit, Louis vowed to unravel the mystery, convinced it was ‘never the obvious person’.

Pointing to Coronation Street’s Colson Smith, he said: ‘I know it wasn’t him, it could be someone else.’

Louis then said, “I’ve been watching you all week, I’ve been watching everyone, it’s never who you think…”

Tensions between Louis and Fern are high after the TV judge commented on her performance in a previous episode.

The Irish music manager sat opposite Ekin-Su Culculoglu, Zeze Millz, Lauren Simon and Fernand asked: ‘I honestly want to know how things are going.’

Ekin-Su responded, “I’m doing well,” and Zeze agreed, “I’m actually doing well,” before Ekin-Su continued, “Everyone is doing their best and we’re getting there.”

Louis replied, “You look great. Even Fern looks good.’

The ladies all turned to look at Fern, who immediately reacted and playfully kicked the air in front of Louis.

Louis continued, “Do you know what I mean? You look good.’

Fern crouched low in front of him and repeated, “Even Fern?” while her co-stars told Louis he couldn’t say that.

Kristen Stewart infamously came out strangely in the middle of her Saturday evening live hosting debut.

“I’m a little nervous about being a host because I know the president is probably watching, and I don’t think he likes me that much,” Stewart joked in her February 2017 monologue, referring to the former president. Donald Trump disapproved of her deception Robert Pattinson. “The president is not a big fan of me, and that’s fine, because Donald, if you didn’t like me then, you probably won’t like me now. I’m so gay, dude.’

Stewart, who had previously been in a relationship Speak Co-star Michael Angarano And Twilight love interest Pattinson had never publicly revealed her sexuality during her early years in the spotlight.

“Honestly, I just thought it was funny,” she said E! News a month later. “Not to diminish the point, because I think it’s absolutely important to say things so bluntly, but at the same time the only reason I’ve never done that is because there’s an ambiguity in that and I wanted things to be real would be like that. really for me.”

She continued, “I’m so incredibly proud that so many people said, ‘Thank you,’ and I said, ‘No, thank you.’ It’s kind of a mutual, full circle.”

Since coming out, Stewart has dated people like Alicia Cargile, Saint Vincent, Soko, Stella Maxwell And Dylan Meijer. Stewart and Meyer got engaged in 2021.

Keep scrolling for more of Stewart’s candid thoughts on sexuality and coming out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community:

August 2015

“Google me, I’m not hiding,” she joked Nylon when asked if she was dating Cargile. “I think that in three or four years there will be a lot more people who don’t feel it necessary to find out whether you are gay or straight. It’s like: just do your thing.”

May 2016

As a child actor, Stewart always felt the need to label herself in the public eye before she finally put a stop to it.

“I needed an answer about who I was,” said the Spencer actress said Variety. “I felt this strange responsibility because I didn’t want to seem scared. But nothing seemed appropriate. So I was like, ‘Fk, how do I define that?’ I’m not going to do that.”

Stewart added that “not defining” her sexuality is the epitome of “what [she’s] about,” and added, “If you don’t understand, I don’t have time for you.”

October 2016

Months earlier, Stewart confirmed her romance with Cargile before going public Elle she was “not ashamed” of dating a woman.

“I’m not confused,” she said. “Things have changed. And not just me: we can really encourage this new acceptance and be great.

March 2017

She told me Sunday Times what she came up with SNL because “it just seemed important and timely,” and denied that she dated Pattinson out of confusion.

“I wasn’t hiding anything,” Stewart noted. “I didn’t talk about my first relationships becoming public because I wanted things that are mine to be mine. I hated how details of my life were being commodified and sold around the world. But with so many eyes on me, I suddenly realized [my private life] affects a larger number of people than just me. It was a chance to give up a piece of what was mine, to make even one other person feel good about themselves.”

September 2018

“Yes, ambiguity is my favorite thing ever. In terms of sexuality? Definitely,” she said during an interview for Paris’ Mastermind Magazine. “And also in filmmaking, if you answer every question perfectly, you don’t allow people to have their own experience and really indulge in thinking. I think the same about how we fuck each other. You don’t always want to know everything.”

January 2024

Since coming out, Stewart has seen it Twilight in a new light despite focusing on a heterosexual teenage love triangle between a human girl, a vampire boy, and a werewolf man.

“I don’t think it necessarily started that way, but I also think the fact that I was there at all filtered through,” Stewart said. Variety. ‘It’s such a gay film. I mean, Jesus Christ, Taylor [Lautner] and Rob and I, and it’s so hidden and not okay. I mean, a Mormon woman [Stephenie Meyer] wrote this book. It’s all about oppression, about wanting what will destroy you. That’s a very gothic, gay bent that I love.

March 2024

Stewart appeared on the cover of Rolling stone the previous month, where she wore a jockstrap and put a hand suggestively on the front of it. The image sparked backlash, which she called “ironic.”

“I feel like I saw a lot of male pubic hair on the cover. I’ve seen a lot of hands in pants,” she said on the radio Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “I think there is a certain open recognition of a female sexuality that has a mind of its own, in a way that is annoying to people who are sexist and homophobic. Female sexuality is meant to actually want nothing more than to be obtained. [The cover] it feels like it’s sticking out in a way that could be annoying. But f–k you.”

Meghan Markle has launched her new lifestyle blog, American Riviera Orchard.

The brand, is believed to be selling cutlery – knives forks spoons – cookbooks and electronic cookbooks, coffee, jams jellies and butters.

It also extends to a physical shop from which tableware, mugs, jams, tablecloths and recipe books could be sold.

Before her life in the royal family, Meghan ran a lifestyle blog called ‘The Tig’.

The passion project’ back in 2014, naming it after her favourite Tignanello red wine.

While up and running, the blog was filled with insights into the former actress’s life, including her relationship with her now estranged father and then best friend Jessica Mulroney.

To her devoted fans, Meghan opened up about her struggles of not fitting in during her time at High School, filling her lunch times with endless extra-curriculum activities just so she did not have to ‘eat lunch alone’.

She closed down The Tig after meeting Prince Harry, of course.

Meghan’s longtime friend, Suits director and producer Silver Tree, explained in Harry and Meghan’s Netflix docuseries: ‘When she first was describing [the blog] to me, she was like, “It’s like your best friend telling you all the fun things you wish you knew about in one place.”‘

But could we expect more candid confessions? Here, FEMAIL looks at some of Meghan’s most revealing posts on the Tig… 

Meghan ‘always felt like she never fitted in’ 

On her 33rd birthday Meghan declared that she had found true happiness, by being ‘kind’ to herself.

The Duchess of Sussex said her ’20s were brutal’ and her ‘teens were even worse’ where she agonised over ‘how to fit in’.

She recalled in high school spending her lunch times full of extra curriculum activities so she could avoid sitting alone in the canteen.

Writing on her blog she said: ‘My high school had cliques: the black girls and white girls, the Filipino and the Latina girls.

‘Being biracial, I fell somewhere in between. So every day during lunch, I busied myself with meetings – French club, student body, whatever one could possibly do between noon and 1pm- I was there.

‘Not so that I was more involved, but so that I wouldn’t have to eat alone.’

As she entered into her early twenties she said she struggled with ‘judging my weight, my style, my desire to be as cool/as hip/as smart/as ‘whatever’ as anyone else’.

When she was a struggling actress at 24, auditioning for different roles, a casting director told her to wear ‘less makeup’ and instead be ‘more Meghan’.

This was a mantra she decided to take with her throughout the rest of her twenties and into her thirties – ‘more Meghan’.

At the time of writing the blog post, Meghan had been divorced from ex-husband Trevor Engelson for two years and was yet to meet her Prince.

She told her fans they did not need anyone else to ‘complete’ them and that they are ‘enough’ themselves.

The ‘unladylike habits’ she vowed to give up

 Just months before she met Prince Harry, Meghan set out to ditch some of her ‘unladylike habits’ in the New Year.

Writing to fans on The Tig on January 1 2016, the future Duchess disclosed her goals and priorities for the year.

This included running a marathon, to stop swearing and to stop biting her nails as well as re-learning French.

She wrote: ‘These make my New Year’s resolution list nearly (AKA actually every) single year. The marathon hasn’t happened. The swearing comes in lulls triggered by being overworked or feeling mighty cheeky after a couple drinks.’

But Meghan also decided to not be so hard on herself if she failed to complete these goals.

She added: ‘This year I resolve to not have a resolution. If I can’t run a marathon, that’s okay. (I’m getting older – my knees are bothering me.) If it takes me a couple more years to lock down that French tutor and nail the language j’adore oh so much, that’s cool too.

‘My nails will be fine, and if I toss out a four letter word once in a blue moon, well frankly I think it adds character.’

Her one aim for the year was to ‘approach life playfully’ and ‘leave room for magic’, as advised by her Suit’s co-star Gina Torres.

Her thoughts on ‘Princess Kate’s wedding

She’s insisted on numerous occasions that she knew very little about the Royal Family before meeting Prince Harry, but Meghan Markle was certainly aware of one of his relatives – Kate Middleton .

A blog post from the Duchess of Sussex’ now defunct website The Tig reveals her feelings about royal princesses before she met Prince Harry – and they’re not completely flattering.

The former actress reflected on the ‘pomp and circumstance’ of the wedding of ‘Princess Kate’, and made a rather scathing reference to ‘grown women’ who entertain ‘childhood fantasies’ about fairytale princesses.

The entry from 2014, written by Meghan during her time on Suits, spoke about her own childhood dream of becoming ‘She-Ra, Princess of Power’.

A blog post from Meghan Markle’s now defunct website The Tig referred to the extravagant wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton in 2011, and the Duchess seemed to take a dim view of ‘childhood fantasies’ about fairytale princesses

Describing her icon, she wrote: ‘We’re definitely not talking about Cinderella here,’ and then mentioned the ‘endless conversation’ about Kate Middleton’s lavish wedding to Prince William in 2011.

Speaking of her own childhood fantasies, she said: ‘Little girls dream of being princesses. I, for one, was all about She-Ra, Princess of Power.

‘For those of you unfamiliar with the ’80s cartoon reference, She-Ra is the twin sister of He-Man and a sword-wielding royal rebel known for her strength.

‘We’re definitely not talking about Cinderella here.

‘Grown women seem to retain this childhood fantasy. Just look at the pomp and circumstance surrounding the royal wedding and endless conversation about Princess Kate.’

‘She’s savvy and fashionable and très cool, and also va va va voom pritaaaaay’

 Before she moved to the UK, where she remained for less than two years as a working royal, Meghan had a close group of friends in Toronto.

Her closest friend was said to be Canadian mother-of-three and stylist Jessica Mulroney, who she met on the set of Suits and for years they were reportedly inseparable.

In December 2015, Meghan raved about her bestie on the defunct blog: ‘She’s savvy and fashionable and très cool, and also va va va voom pritaaaaay.

‘And here’s the other thing – she also happens to be an incredible stylist, clothing the likes of Canada’s First Lady, Sophie Trudeau.’

The piece went on to list Jessica’s style tips for the festive period.

The women remained extremely close over the following years, so much so that Meghan even called Jessica on the night Harry proposed.

In the Netflix series, the Suit’s star appears to have video called Jessica where she said: ‘Oh my God Jess, it’s happening. He told me not to peek.’

Their close relationship was once again shown at the royal wedding, when Jessica was included in the bridal party, with her young daughter Ivy acting as a flower girl.

Her sons, Brian and John, were also page boys. The stylist was given a starring role as she entered the chapel alongside the Princess of Wales.

The day of the royal wedding Jessica shared snaps captioned: ‘Proud friend. Proud mom.’

More recently, however, the pair’s friendship seems to have cooled, with Jessica being noticeably absent from the couple’s Netflix docuseries, which included Meghan’s other friends like tennis star Serena Williams and Suit’s co-star Abigail Spencer.

She also made no public comments on the revelations made in Harry’s biography Spare.

It appeared as though the friendship started to become distant in 2020, after the style guru was called out by lifestyle blogger Sasha Exeter for comments she made regarding ‘white privilege’ while the pair had a conversation about the Black Lives Matters movement.

Following on from the blogger’s claims, Jessica issued three public apologies but despite this was still dropped by a number of television networks.

This included her stints as a fashion contributor on Good Morning America as well as the Canadian TV network, who said they would be pulling all episodes of her wedding-themed reality show, I Do Redo.

Jessica has not commented on rumours of them drifting apart.

In January, however, Jessica did share a snap of herself at the Duke and Duchess’ wedding, which was seen on the Netflix docuseries.

The style guru shared the picture on her Instagram without a caption and disabled comments on the post in a cryptic move.

 The day Meghan said her life changed forever – and it involved a £36 dress, rattling car and cheap blow-dry

One post on her blog, from January 2015 recalled the moment the Duchess said her life changed forever.

Meghan, at the time a struggling actress, had just finished an audition for a television show pilot called A Legal Mind – later to become known as the legal drama Suits.

But she thought she ‘blew it’ telling her agent: ‘I kept forgetting my lines, I was distracted, and I blew it. Which sucks because I really wanted this one. I really like Rachel.’

Following what she thought was a setback, the actress wrote: ‘I went home and ate my feelings (likely some iteration of bread and cheese – pizza, quesadilla, it didn’t matter) because I wasn’t in a place to be able to let it go. I wanted it, and I lost my shot at it. Or so I thought.’

Instead, the casting directors liked her enough to invite her back to audition in front of the studio and network bosses.

After being given some last-minute advice about her appearance, ‘more conservative, think hair pulled back and business attire’, she bought a $45 outfit and had her ‘hair blown out at DryBar because it was close to my house’.

The audition ended up being a success despite how ‘nervous’ and ‘hungry’ the actress said she was at the time.

She added: ‘I had no idea that this late August morning of 2011 would change my life.

‘That I would get the part. That I would live in a little apartment in Manhattan to shoot the pilot. That over a lunch of lentil salad and muhammara on Beverly Drive, I would get a call saying we were picked up. That I would film the series in Canada.’

During the blog post, she also gushed about her friends and cast-mates Gina Torres and Sarah Rafferty.

She said: ‘I didn’t know that the regal looking woman was Gina Torres, who would end up feeding me picadillo and white, burgundy in her home.

‘Or that Sarah Rafferty would become not just my Suits sister wife, but my sister – the one I hike with, and vent with, and laugh til it hurts with.

‘I didn’t know my cast would become my family, and that so many #suitors would welcome us into their homes.’

 How she bonded with tennis champion Serena Williams over hot sauces

Serena Williams and Meghan’s friendship has been well documented over the years.

The tennis superstar and the Duchess first met in 2010 at a Superbowl Party, then once again in 2014 where they ‘hit it off immediately’ according to The Tig.

The close relationship between the pair was evident when Serena starred in the Duke and Duchesses’ Netflix docuseries, Meghan and Harry.

She featured in the third episode where she said: ‘I’m looking at it through the lens of my friend, not a princess.

‘They as a couple are so tight. And rely on each other so much… I was just super excited.’

Williams added Meghan and Harry are each other’s’ ‘best, best, best friends’.

In 2014, Meghan spoke about the first time she met Serena: ‘We hit it off immediately, taking pictures, laughing through the flag football game we were both playing in, and chatting not about tennis or acting, but about all the good old fashioned girly stuff.

‘So began our friendship. She quickly became a confidante I would text when I was traveling, the friend I would rally around for her tennis matches, and the down to earth chick I was able to grab lunch with just a couple weeks ago in Toronto.’

Their friendship continued to grow over their love of fashion, ‘hot sauces’ and their ‘endless ambition’.

After Meghan became Prince Harry’s girlfriend in 2016, the Duchess leaned on the tennis pro who advised her on how to handle the paparazzi.

According to Mark Hodgkinson in Serena: A Graphic Biography of the Greatest Tennis Champion, the women’s friendship evolved through regular phone calls and texts.

Serena told Meghan to ‘stop being so nice’, according to Hodgkinson.

She went on to be invited to Meghan’s hen do and her New York baby shower in 2019.

More recently, as well as appearing in the Netflix series, Meghan invited her to star on the first episode of her Spotify podcast Archetypes.

The wish Meghan makes every birthday inspired by her mother 

Every year for her birthday Meghan makes the same wish, inspired by her own mother Doria.

She said that every birthday acts as ‘your own personal New Year’ where you can make resolutions for yourself.

Celebrating her birthday in August 2016, around the time she met Prince Harry for the first time, Meghan wished for ‘a big old happy blank filled with ‘more surprises, more adventure, more opportunities to grow, more days filled with giggles and cheeky jokes, more delicious meals, and more inspiration’.

 Her ‘Eat, Pray. Love’ month

In one of her later blog posts, months after meeting Prince Harry, Meghan wrote how she had spent the summer like the main character in Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel Eat, Pray, Love.

The Duchess had decided to spend her August hiatus from filming Suits with one simple mission, to ‘eat everything, pray (meditate) often, and simply love her (my) life, every ounce of it’.

Meghan spent the summer on ‘extravagant’ getaways, accompanied by some ‘trusted friends who met her (me) along the way for my various adventures’ who helped her ‘celebrate’ her life.

Speaking to her devoted fans, who would have seen her gallivanting abroad throughout that month, she explained she did not always lead such a luxurious life.

Meghan wrote: ‘It wasn’t long ago (cough – about ten years ago – cough) that I only had $40 in my bank account, that I could barely book an audition, and that my circle of friends was even smaller.

‘But even then, without all the pomp and circumstance, I made time to celebrate my life. Maybe it was pizza and a bottle of two buck chuck from Trader Joe’s with a couple girlfriends, tucked in for the night sitting on my living room floor.

‘Or maybe it was a dance party in my tiny apartment or a sobbing session to purge all of those feelings with my nearest and dearest.’

Foreigner, Sex/life and more TV shows and movies have done so hired intimacy coordinators to manage sex scenes.

“My job early on in season No. 1 was to reach out to them and say, ‘Okay, so you guys are together this season, how can I help you feel safe?’” Sex/life intimacy coordinator Casey Hudecki told exclusively We weekly in March 2023. “How can I help you protect your relationship while your characters move away and have other relationships? How can I help the actors who are… their scene partners to feel safe and free, even though they know that, you know, Adam and Sarah [are] together?’ So there is a lot of talk.”

Sex/life – which premiered its first season on Netflix in June 2021 – features plenty of racy, NSFW scenes between stars Sarah Shahi and Adam Demos, which sparked a real-life romance on set.

“I think with Adam and Sarah they feel safe together and they feel very comfortable with each other,” Hudecki explained. Us. “I think they can have a lot more fun and play with each other in their scenes.”

Scroll below to read more candid quotes from actors about working with intimacy coordinators:

Ireland Baldwin embraces her post-baby physique nine months after giving birth.

The 28-year-old model, the daughter of Alec Baldwin And Kim Basingershared a revealing mirror selfie, wearing only a bra and underwear, via Instagram on Wednesday, February 21.

In the caption, Ireland shared a realistic yet inspiring update on how she’s adjusting to her postpartum body.

“Nine months postpartum and I’m nowhere near where I want to be, but I’m over the hump and finally found the time to get this butt into shape,” Ireland wrote alongside the photos, which showed her flexing her biceps.

Ireland added that while she is “not necessarily training every day,” she is still “making strides to become more consistent. Walk more. Exercise more.”

Sharing a message for those struggling to embrace their bodies post-pregnancy, she continued: “I just wanted to do a solidarity post with anyone who is finding it hard to get inspired to change bad habits/work on yourself.”

Ireland then showed herself a little grace, writing, “I still have days where I eat an entire box of Girl Scout cookies for dinner, but that’s okay! It took 7-9 months before I even started to lose any baby weight or nurse…”

Her caption ended on a sharp and motivational note: “And anyone who makes you feel bad for going at your own pace or not being enough may be bad at it. This s–t is HARD. Be kind to yourself.”

Fans cheered her on in the comments section for being so vulnerable during her journey.

One Instagram user wrote: “Your body will never be the same and that’s okay,” while another joked: “I’m still trying to lose baby weight. My daughter is 18 .”

Another greeted Ireland, noting: ‘Thank you for being the most real, funniest and most relatable person I follow. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” A fourth user marked Ireland’s photos as ‘my favorite post yet’.

In an encouraging message, a separate user reminded Ireland: “Your body is beautiful. And you love yourself, that’s the most important thing. You made a baby with that body! Women’s bodies are incredible. Great job mom!!”

Ireland and friend RAC (real name André Allen Anjos) announced the arrival of daughter Holland, their first baby, in May 2023. She has since shared a candid look at her first months as a mother, noting in a thoughtful Instagram post from December 2023 that she wants to be her. “best self” for her daughter.

“Life is painfully short. Having a baby who grows out of her clothes in a week reminds you of that,” she teased at the time.

Ireland and RAC previously announced her pregnancy on New Year’s Eve 2022, sharing a photo of an ultrasound for the occasion and writing: “Happy New Year .”

How often do you have sex? Twice a week? A month? Or even a year? Glamorous comedian Katherine Ryan has admitted she has sex ‘exactly twice a month’ with her partner Bobby Kootstra.

The 40-year-old also revealed the couple diarise their bi-monthly love-making to ensure it happens. Whether you react to that with envy or pity will no doubt tell you much about your own sex life.

Humans, it seems, have an innate interest in what other people get up to in bed. None of us wants to think we’re an outlier, and yet research shows we all over-estimate — often wildly — how much sex everyone else is getting.

In the interests of scientific inquiry, and potentially to make us all feel better, we asked some brave leading writers to reveal their numbers…

I’m semi-retired from sex — it’s liberating

Marion McGilvary, 66

Personally, I have as much interest in sex as I do in a two-week holiday to North Korea.

Fractionally less, if I’m honest. For most of my life Mr Libido has ruled supreme, but with the combination of the menopause (the gift that keeps on giving) and long-relationship fatigue, I’ve finally broken free of its grip.

The urge that wreaked havoc, leading me into so much trouble and the beds of many highly disreputable and truly regrettable men, has finally packed his suitcase and left.

I feel liberated. Luckily my current partner is happily engaged in a loving relationship with football, country walks and his shed, so we are as one on this subject and united by very infrequent, possibly biannual, forays into conjugal bliss.

Turns out neither of us can be bothered. Yes, perhaps if Idris Elba abseiled in with a box of Milk Tray, I might be persuaded… or then again perhaps not.

Who has the energy for a lover, let alone the maintenance required to support one? Not to mention the emotional entanglements that creep in, uninvited, which lead to feelings.

Without them, sex is mechanical. With them, it’s troublesome.

I have all the feelings I need at this point in my life and have no desire to embark on a relationship which will eventually lead me to the same place I am now — watching the telly with a man who wears slippers.

A young friend told me I had given her the best advice ever, which was to make sure she had sex at least weekly and not get out of the habit.

She claims it saved her marriage. It didn’t save mine, but perhaps that’s because he was having it and I wasn’t. But now it’s all moot. I’m semi-retired. Lest you think this is a select club with only a few members, think again. Ask around. Sex is like caffeine. Many of us have given it up.

My lovely whippet is getting in the way

Hannah Betts, 52

The actress Mrs Patrick Campbell described marriage as the ‘deep, deep peace of the double bed after the hurly-burly of the chaise longue’.

After nine years together, the profundity of our peace is indeed pure bliss. Nothing makes me happier than hitting the sack with Terence, 49. However, rather more hurly-burly would be welcome.

The lack of it is not for reasons of boredom or complacency. Far from it. Instead, a blight descended upon our erotic existence when we began living together five years ago — a blight that is beautiful, neurotic and hotly adored. In short, we’d be at it a lot more were it not for Pimlico, our whippet, who is the ultimate barrier-method contraception.

Pim body-blocks anything remotely resembling sexual contact, from catching each other’s eye upwards.

At night, she sleeps between us, or between our legs, guarding against any possible action. As a dog therapist we consulted explained, ours is a polyamorous throuple in which the focus is very much on her.

The irony is not lost on me that I type this after a weekend in which we set Pim up on a romantic mini-break to see whether she would like to get to know a dashing whippet bachelor. Alas, they appeared content to remain in the friend zone.

But we were Pim-less and able to enter the erotic one. It was wonderful; middle-age brings with it a fabulously improved skillset. It made us realise how ridiculous we are being.

We’re lucky enough not to have children to get in the way and still find each other attractive. Time to resolve this ‘high days and holidays’ lunacy.

We shower together after the school run

Kate Wills, 39

When I tell other women in long-term relationships that my partner Guy and I have sex four to five times a week, they look shocked.

Most of my social circle only manage it a couple of times a month. A few of them haven’t had sex in more than a year. That seems like a real shame to me.

When Guy and I first got together in 2019 we would have sex every day, sometimes several times a day.

Of course, now we’re older and have a three-year-old daughter, our magic number has gone down a bit. But we always try to make time to have sex regularly, even if that means scheduling it in.

I love feeling desired and sexy; it is one of the few times in the day when I can turn my to-do-list-whirring-brain off.

A big mistake I think a lot of couples make is waiting until the very end of the day to even think about initiating sex.

That’s when you’re at your most tired and/or too full because you had a curry for dinner.

Guy and I will sometimes set an alarm half an hour before our daughter wakes up so we can have morning sex, or we’ll shower together after we’ve dropped her at school. There’s no rule that sex has to be in the bedroom with the lights out.

I think it helps that we both work from home, so we can sneak in a quick cuddle in the middle of the day. Yes, we do triple check that our Zoom cameras are turned off!

At 63 my sex life is better than ever

Sudi Pigott, 63

Being in love again just post 60 is exhilarating, sometimes tempestuous, and my sex life is better than ever.

Yes, in the heady early days of meeting Stephen, we’d almost always go to bed as soon as he arrived in London from his Suffolk cottage, or as soon as I got to his place.

Even as a committed foodie writing on restaurants and all things culinary for a living, dinner had to wait and take second place.

More than two years on, our appetite has settled a little and we rarely wake up in the middle of the night for a spot of fun as we did.

Yet, we remain joyously hungry for each other.

We met through a dating website after I’d had a long period of short-term, intermittent relationships with only occasional really good sex and more inconsiderate or simply poor or incapable performers.

What perhaps helps to keep the passion so ignited is that we don’t live together. Stephen still lives in Suffolk three nights a week, so it always feels exciting when we see each other again.

Yes, the realities of life and work have intervened, yet we still average sex twice a weekend, unless we’re on holiday and have all the time in the world.

Our most regular time for sex is Sunday mornings. Stephen flexes his barista skills to bring up coffee in bed.

Then we have plenty of time for unhurried, considerate sex before listening, rather appropriately, to Michael Berkeley on BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions.

I live on a boat and it’s too cold for intimacy!

Hilary Freeman, 52

These days, my partner Mickael and I talk about having sex far more than we actually do it.

The conversation, in bed, usually goes something like this. Me: ‘How long is it since we had sex?’

Him, mentally calculating: ‘I don’t know. It has been a while. After that party? We should probably do it.’ I reply: ‘Yes, and I’d like to, but I’m much too tired and you have to get up at five.’

‘OK.’ Looking hopeful, ‘Let’s do it tomorrow night?’

And when tomorrow night arrives: ‘I’m sorry but I can’t keep my eyes open. Let’s do it on Saturday.’

And so on. Put simply, while our minds are willing, our bodies are generally too knackered.

Mickael does shift work, often leaving in the early hours or returning after midnight.

Factor in that we have a curious eight-year-old child and that we live on a boat with thin, plywood walls, and sex goes out the porthole.

When we first got together, 14 years ago, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.

Our relationship was long-distance for three years, which helped to prolong that exciting, honeymoon phase.

Of course, we are older now and familiarity saps desire. But sex is still important to both of us. We always get on better when we’ve been recently intimate.

As an agony aunt who frequently gives sex advice, I’m aware that experts say you’re supposed to schedule love-making to end a dry spell.

But dishing out advice is easier than taking it. Diarising sex simply doesn’t work for us.

It makes it feel like just another chore — buy milk, do tax return, have intercourse — and we need the frisson of spontaneity.

That’s particularly hard to come by at this time of year, when the boat is so cold that we go to bed wearing deeply unsexy (and impractical to quickly remove) socks, thermals and leggings.

However, all is not lost. If you average it out, we still manage sex twice a month.

Friends discuss how to avoid having sex

Susannah Jowitt, 55

Evening sex doesn’t work once you get to the age of separate bedtimes. I want to enjoy a long hot soak in the bath, while hubby drops off after one page of his latest heavy biography.

Over the 25 years of our marriage, Sunday morning has become the only time we wake up together and know we’ve got nothing else pressing to do. Books are set aside. Phones are left on silent. Knees start to tremble.

Sadly, even this pedestrian routine is racy in comparison to many of our friends. They haven’t had sex for weeks, months, even years.

I know this from too many girls’ nights when talk turns to how to avoid having sex with your husband. One friend has cultivated a pre-bed beauty routine so heavily laced with unguents and serums that her husband would simply slide off her without gaining purchase, even if he could ignore the medicinal aromas and death-pallor of the creams.

The trouble is that women have often stopped fancying their husband, though they still love them. This is the trouble with everyone being on HRT: we feel young, sexed-up and vibrant once more — but our husbands are not on HRT and are often fat, bald and snore.

I do have two pairs of friends who still have sex every night. My husband and I talk about them in tones of awe. Every night! ‘It’s why I have no social life and never get to read the book-club book,’ one of them tells me.

‘Neither of us drink any more so it’s how we guarantee a good night’s sleep,’ says the other.

By Ellie Phillips for Mailonline

Published: 12:01 EST, February 2, 2024 | Updated: 12:03 EST, February 2, 2024

John Lennon clowns around with Ringo, Paul and George in never-before-seen footage of the Beatles while filming on Salisbury Plain. 

The silent film of more than three minutes – of which only snippets were released to the public – was shot more than 59 years ago on Salisbury Plain, near Stonehenge, England, while the Beatles were on set of their film Help! in May 1965. 

Image stills from the video show the band in a jovial mood during a break for the ‘I Need You’ sequence, with John Lennon clowning around with director Richard Lester as they engage with the cast and crew.

They play around with instruments and mime to a track in the ‘makeshift’ outdoor recording studio. The Beatles are surrounded by fake armed soldiers from the British Army’s 3rd Royal Tank Regiment with their tanks and weapons.

In the quirky plot of Help!, a mysterious cult is attempting to kill Ringo Starr so the band performs under Royal Artillery protection, hence the group of soldiers in the film.

The rare behind-the-scenes film, which has not been released by auction house RR Auction in Boston, is coming up for sale for $10,000 (£8,000). 

The film was shot at the height of the so-called Beatlemania – a term coined after the band shot to worldwide fame in the early 1960s – which saw people line the streets to see the band wherever they went.

The Beatles were formed in Liverpool in 1960 by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.

They released their debut single Love Me Do in October 1962, with their first album Please Please Me following in March the year after. 

While they were already incredibly successful in Britain and other European countries, the song that finally catapulted the Beatles to success in the US was I Want to Hold Your Hand, bringing the Beatlemania over the pond after in January 1964. 

Soon after, in April 1964, the Billboard Hot 100 charts were led by five Beatles songs, with seven more further down the list.

Other artists wrote even wrote songs about the Beatles which made it into the charts.

The British band transformed the music landscape as they expertly blended classical elements with traditional pop forms and unconventional recording techniques that inspired other artists for years to come. 

After they toured less in 1966, they spent a lot of time at the famous Abbey Road Studios, where they experimented with different techniques that were unique to the studio and couldn’t be replicated on stage – revolutionary for a time when usually albums would be created by simply playing a song live in the studio a few times. 

But they were also pioneers when it comes to music videos, with Help!, which was released in July 1965, being attributed as a big influence in the creation of modern music videos. 

The Beatles were the first to use the short film showcasing their song as a PR tool to market their music. 

Their first major motion picture, A Hard Day’s Night, was a silent drama with the band’s music overlaid and is often referred to as the ancestor of the music video. 

The Help! film came at the same time as the Beatles’ fifth album, which featured songs like Help! and Yesterday.

Lennon later said of Help!: ‘I realise, looking back, how advanced it was. It was a precursor to the Batman “Pow! Wow!” on TV-that kind of stuff.

‘But [Lester] never explained it to us. Partly, maybe, because we hadn’t spent a lot of time together between A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, and partly because we were smoking marijuana for breakfast during that period.

‘Nobody could communicate with us, it was all glazed eyes and giggling all the time. In our own world.

‘It’s like doing nothing most of the time, but still having to rise at 7am, so we became bored.’

The unseen behind-the-scenes footage, on an original reel of 8mm black and white silent film, was taken by a member of the production crew or a friend of the Beatles.

It has come to light 59 years on after an Irish collector acquired it on eBay. It is coming up for sale at RR Auction, of Boston, US, for $10,000 (£8,000).

An RR Auction spokesperson said: ‘Unseen footage of the Beatles is incredibly rare, making the discovery of such a film a unique moment in popular music history. 

‘It offers some rare and unique moments where all four Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, were captured “off-camera”, in their natural, jovial state.

‘In this footage, they are not performing for the camera, but engaging with cast and crew, noodling on their instruments, and joking around on set.

‘The sequence for “I Need You” was shot near Stonehenge from May 3-5, 1965, and portrays the Beatles miming to the track in a makeshift outdoor recording studio, surrounded by armed soldiers of the British Army’s 3rd Royal Tank Regiment and their Centurion tanks.

‘In the movie’s plot, Ringo Starr is being targeted for assassination by a mysterious cult so the band performs under Royal Artillery protection.’

Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auctions, added: ‘I’ve seen my fair share of rare Beatles artifacts, but this 8mm film is something special because it captures the sheer joy of the Fab Four.

‘It’s a cinematic time capsule that brings us closer to the Beatles in a way that photographs and interviews simply can’t.’

The sale takes place on February 23.

This comes after more unseen footage of the Beatles messing around as they filmed the movie Help! in the Austrian Alps has emerged after being stored in a garage for 50 years in 2017.

The famous four starred in the movie alongside the late actor Leo McKern, who became best known as Rumpole of Bailey on ITV between 1978-92.

He candidly recorded the bandmates in between takes as they larked around on set. 

The 8mm film and its copyright is now being sold for asking price of £35,000.

Speaking to the Guardian, rare books dealer and actor Neil Pearson who is selling the footage, said in 2017: ‘It is unseen footage of people who were, at that time, the most famous people on earth.

‘It is footage of golden age Beatles, fooling around between takes, waiting for something to happen … I know that feeling.’

The film shows John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr joking around with their stunt doubles and pretending to play instruments.  

Their tomfoolery on set for this particular film was well-documented with Ringo Starr describing in an interview in 2000 how ‘a hell of a lot of pot’ was smoked while making the film.

He said it was ‘great’ and the director knew very little would get done after lunch.

Speaking for a piece in the 2000 Beatles Anthology book, he said: ‘In the afternoon we very seldom got past the first line of the script. 

‘We had such hysterics that no one could do anything. Dick Lester would say, “No, boys, could we do it again?” It was just that we had a lot of fun – a lot of fun in those days.’

And at the end of the footage, McKern’s daughter Abigail, who was ten at the time, is recorded playing in the snow. 

She became a part of the gang and has memories of being in the Beatles entourage and even recalls being spat on by a jealous fan, according to Mr Pearson. 

Apart from family members when the McKerns returned to their home in London, it has otherwise remained unseen and kept stored away in the garage.   

It came to light because Pearson had been approached by Abigail McKern, also an actor, to see if he could help disperse her mother’s collection of children’s literature. 

Abigail McKern was brought together with Paul McCartney’s stunt double on the BBC’s The One Show in November 2017 to show the footage live on air for the first time. 

The film came following the success the group had with A Hard Day’s Night. It had a larger budget than their first movie, with scenes recorded in the Bahamas as well as Austria.  

They spent two weeks in the Alps but while they look like they are having a great time, in interviews afterwards John Lennon said the movie was ‘out of control’. 

Speaking after, he said they had more creative input with the first film and director Dick Lester didn’t tell them ‘what it was all about’. 

Despite their concerns, the film is still looked on favourably by most critics, with a rating of 9/10 on Rotten Tomatoes. 

McKern died in 2002 after establishing a reputation as a fine stage actor in the 1950s before turning to film. 

One of his most memorable performances was as the defence barrister in Rumpole of the Bailey. 

By Kate Dennett for Mailonline

Published: 4:11 PM EST, January 15, 2024 | Updated: 5:02 PM EST, January 15, 2024

Helen Flanagan has enjoyed a luxury family holiday in Bali in recent weeks with her children Matilda, Delilah, Charlie and her best friend.

But all is not as it seems, as Helen, 33, candidly shared on Saturday that her relaxing trip has taken a turn for the worse.

The former Coronation Street star took to Instagram to share some sizzling snaps and openly admitted a number of things that went wrong.

Helen said she was ‘the mother with the loudest children’, had her chest burned and had a monkey steal her belongings.

She captioned her post: ‘The mom around the pool with the noisy kids, a monkey took my mui mui sunglasses and Delilah’s Nintendo switch and I burned my boobs too busy making sure the kids put cream on them .’

In addition to the disastrous end to her lovely holiday on the Indonesian island a few days earlier, Helen had sparked concern among her fans when she shared more bikini photos with her chest looking badly burned.

Helen has given fans an insight into her luxury Bali getaway, posting a slew of eye-catching bikini snaps during the holiday.

However, things didn’t initially go to plan when she first landed in Bali before New Year’s Eve.

Upon arrival, she shared an update to her Instagram Story, revealing that she had arrived there but without her luggage after accidentally picking up the wrong one.

Smiling for a selfie, she explained: ‘Not the best start to the holiday, I brought the wrong suitcase to the hotel.’

Helen continued: ‘But the suitcase I took with me had a mobile phone in it, so I gave it back to the man, who was super nice about it. I felt so bad and was able to get mine back at the airport.”

The beauty was reunited with her three children for the trip after spending Christmas with their dad Scott Sinclair, 34.

Helen and the Bristol Rovers footballer split in July 2022 after 13 years together and are now co-parenting their children.

The former I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! The star previously explained that the children would spend the holidays with their mum and dad in Bath, while she stayed in Bolton.

Speak with Closershe said: ‘My children miss their father very much and they are very close to their grandmother, so they are going to spend Christmas with them.’

“I won’t have them for the next four days.” “It will actually be the first Christmas I won’t have children,” she added.

“I think it’s good to have challenges, and with co-parenting you have to be honest. And it’s not about you, it’s about the kids and what makes them happy.”