Missy Peregrym on the Gymnastics Scenes and Her Stunt Double: “The camerawork was amazing, the way that they filmed it. I thought the double was phenomenal. When she came in, we were in the middle training and I was terrified. I was like, ‘Guys, I can’t get that big.’ She was so muscular and so strong. I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do that.’ I’m willing to work as hard as possible but I’m like, ‘This is going to look so weird. It’s going to be like [indicating the difference in the two girls], ‘Missy, Isabel, Missy, Isabel.’ It’s so obvious. I was like, ‘Please no!’ But it actually worked out perfect.

They knew exactly what they were looking for and I’m so proud of the way it turned out. I just didn’t want this movie to look fake in that sense and for people to get out of the story to notice the doubling. I thought it was really cool.”

Peregrym didn’t have a background in gymnastics but that didn’t stop her from believing she could do many of her own stunts. “I kind of went in there thinking I could do everything,” laughed Peregrym. “I went in there and was like, ‘Okay, cool. I can do a handstand…’ Yeah, for like a second. Then I thought I could do a cartwheel and a front handspring and I was like, ‘See?’ And they were like, ‘No.’ ‘What do you mean no? I just did it and I landed on my feet.’ ‘That was good, but it’s all about form.’

It really took four months to learn the basics of gymnastics plus the strength required to do any of those tricks. It took all that time just to get the strength to even try some of the difficult stuff. Obviously, it’s such a dangerous sport and they are not going to be like, ‘Okay, guys, we’re going to do three back flips right now and we want to see you land on your feet.’ I’d break my neck, so really it was about getting out body to look like a gymnast.”

The Biggest Challenges to Playing a Gymnast: “The biggest part that was the most productive of the training period was really seeing what it’s like to be in the gymnast world. We trained for four months, five days a week for six hours a day. That’s a really long time. I was like, ‘Yeah, this is going to be so much fun. I can’t wait to get into this,’ and it was the most painful thing I’ve ever done. I was sore every day. Thank God [Vanessa Lengies] was in the training with me because we just really bonded through that experience. It’s so hard to get up every day and be that sore. Because you are so sore, you feel like you’re getting worse and worse. You want to go in there and be like, ‘Yeah, I can do all this and all that.’ But, even in gymnastics, you train and one day you can do every trick and nail everything. By the way, my trick is a spin… But the next day you go in and can’t do anything. ‘Why can’t I turn?’ That’s just the way it is.”

Peregrym continued. “It’s a mental game. It’s very emotional and as our bodies were changing, it was demanding eating properly and being able to support how much we were working out. It was so weird to be in a gym for that long. You lose your perspective for what’s really important in the world. I was, ‘How does my a** look and is it going to be fine in a leotard?’ It’s like, ‘Missy, re-group. Not important.’”

Missy Peregrym’s Take on the Lack of Female Role Models: “Definitely in Hollywood I don’t think there are a lot of those roles. That’s why I was attracted to this role so much. I’m really passionate about the way that Haley is because she had an arc, and I think a lot of teenaged girls are going through the same thing. I can’t speak on behalf of guys because I not a guy and I don’t know what their process is, but I know that, even for myself, I didn’t have the same family life or the same issues exactly but every girl has this process of defending herself. I have kind of the same defense mechanisms as Haley. I make sarcastic jokes. I try to bounce everything off me like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, it doesn’t matter.’ You try to mask your disappointment or the hurt and everything.

It’s funny because I’m kind of going through now what I was trying to portray as Haley. You really look at those things and what you thought were strengths are now weaknesses. You can’t go through the whole time deflecting everything and Haley really gets to a point of where she really deals with what is going on, the real issues. She uses them in a positive way to make a difference instead of just being this wall to absolutely everything. She opens up and lets things in and really excels and gets the people around her to excel. She was a great influence.”

So here is your first look at Missy’s Candice Wilmer on “Heroes”. Here’s something interesting: notice the way Candice is giving HRG the “eye” as she walks away from them. What do you think is going on there?

Ronni Ancona, Craig David, Lorraine Kelly, Scott Mills, Olly Murs, Dermot O’Leary, Nadia Sawalha, Kara Tointon and Peter White are all taking part in a trek across one of the world’s most inhospitable deserts, in Kenya where they will also take on some of the planet’s deadliest creatures to raise as much cash as possible for Comic Relief.

The celebs will cover 100 gruelling kilometres in the Kaisut Desert in just five days and face temperatures as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit, in a bid to raise money for people  living in both Africa and the UK who suffer disabilities and hardships.

All the ups and downs of their journey will be captured for a documentary which will be broadcast on the BBC in the run up to Red Nose Day.

“Times change, and so do the tastes of our audience,” said Peter Fincham, the channel’s director of television.

The move follows a major revamp that saw the drama relaunched as a weekly programme in a post-watershed slot.

Producers Talkback Thames said they were “devastated” by a decision that “may result in a significant number of redundancies” for the company.

“We are incredibly proud of what the show has achieved,” said CEO Lorraine Heggessey.

“It is a credit to everyone who has worked on The Bill that the series will be signing out on a creative and editorial high, with both critical and industry-wide acclaim and a loyal fan base who have supported the show throughout.”

Creative decision

ITV said it would invest the money it spent on the programme – first seen on the channel in 1983 – on new peak-time drama commissions.

Fincham said The Bill had been “the home of some of the UK’s best serial drama storylines and a great showcase for terrific scriptwriting and fine acting talent”.

“Thanks to a superb production team, it’s been one of the great institutions of television drama,” he continued.

Set around the fictional Sun Hill police station in London, The Bill began life as a one-off drama entitled Woodentop.

ITV was impressed enough to commission a weekly series that eventually became a thrice-weekly soap.

The channel insisted the move to axe the show was a creative decision and was not done to cut costs.

“Whilst The Bill will come to an end in 2010, we will continue to invest more in drama programming than any other commercial broadcaster in the UK,” said Fincham.

Reid commented: “I’ve got some auditions coming up, which I’m thrilled about. One of them is for quite a big-budget BBC drama, and the director asked to see me specifically.

“I do not want to get too excited yet, just because I know how this world works, but it feels really good to get the acting buzz back.”

Reid first found fame by playing footballer Jason Cunliffe in Hollyoaks, but has concentrated on his cage-fighting career in recent years.

During his stint on Celebrity Big Brother, the 34-year-old repeatedly spoke of his desire to make it big in Hollywood.

Dr Ann Coxon said that Goody’s death last year was unnecessary and could have been prevented if “glaringly obvious” symptoms were not overlooked.

Goody was allowed to travel to India to appear on the country’s version of Big Brother after staff at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, apparently failed to find anything during an ultrasound, reports The Sun.

The cancer was only diagnosed after a nurse at the medical facility asked to carry out a smear test after realising that Goody had skipped several in the past.

Dr Coxon, a Harley Street consultant, said: “An ultrasound should be able to pick up lesions just 1.2mm wide, and Jade had a tumour the size of a tangerine. It should have been blindingly obvious.

“She probably had cancer for at least a year before her diagnosis. The abnormal smear tests were signs that she was high-risk. She was only diagnosed because of one nurse bothering to do her job.”

The Princess Alexandra has previously refused to discuss allegations over its care of Jade, commenting only that it was respecting her confidentiality. Dr Coxon added: “Jade’s story must never be forgotten.

“She need not have died if the medical profession had got their act together in time.”

DR Coxon contributes to Jade: A Year Without Her, on Living TV on Sunday at 9pm.

Her solicitor Mike Brookes said that Price told Norton, Jo Brand, Jackie Collins and a 600-strong audience that Powell had had an affair with Andre, despite his client being engaged to Neville Hendricks, who is father to her child.

Brookes said: “To be accused of infidelity, with one of her longstanding and high-profile clients, was obviously very damaging and distressing for Ms Powell – the most obvious reason being that the allegation was completely untrue.”

Speaking to Mr Justice Eady at London’s High Court, Brookes added that the BBC had “quite sensibly” edited out the comments but noted that they had nevertheless been picked up by the press.

Price’s lawyer Keith Ashby said: “She greatly regrets what has happened, and joins in the making of this statement in order to assist in setting the record straight.”

The glamour model was not in court for the hearing but Brookes said that she apologised unreservedly for the comments, accepted that the allegation was untrue and agreed to pay “substantial compensation” in addition to Powell’s legal costs.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, Powell said: “I’m just glad it’s been sorted. I didn’t really want to be in court but if something bad is said which is going to trash your reputation, you have to clear your name.”

The star raised thousands of pounds for Sport Relief by crossing the 21-mile busy shipping lane to France.

On completing the task, she said: “I can’t believe I’ve actually done it. It was really tough.”

Strong winds meant the 31-year-old, who fell eight times during the challenge, faced sub-zero temperatures.

“The water was freezing and having to get up after every fall was exhausting,” the star added.

“Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me along the way, it really kept me going out there.”

The task had been delayed several times because of poor weather and the presenter still had to compete with strong winds during the ordeal.

Before setting off, Bleakley had admitted to being “petrified” as she is frightened of water and is not a strong swimmer.

The star has been in training for just a few weeks and has only recently started water-skiing.

She decided to take on the “crazy” task for Sport Relief after visiting East Africa last year.

Despite everything Christine can still manage a smile. A sunnier disposition it would be hard to find
Sport Relief on Twitter

“I went to Uganda where I met Hajjara, a teenage girl carrying the weight of the world on her young shoulders,” Bleakley said.

“After losing her parents to Aids, she’s been left all alone to care for her younger siblings.”

The star’s progress was followed on the official Sport Relief Twitter feed. Shortly after she began the challenge, it said: “Seventh fall – seven miles done. Cold, hard, slog.”

Eddie Cheever said: “You are crazy and amazing all at the same time.”

And David Anthony called her “an inspiration”.

Footage of her challenge will be shown on The One Show at 1900 GMT on Friday.

A whole host of stars have been taking part in sporting challenges for the charity.

Earlier this month David Walliams, Fearne Cotton and Davina McCall completed a bike ride from John O’Groats on the tip of Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall.

A spokeswoman said he passed away in the early hours of Wednesday morning at Providence St Joseph Medical Centre.

A post-mortem will determine the cause of death and no other details have been released as yet.

The Canadian-born star’s first role was in the 1984 hit Firstborn. In recent years, he appeared in reality TV show The Two Coreys.

The series, which also starred Haim’s friend Corey Feldman, was cancelled in 2008 after two series.

The pair, who both have battled drug problems in the past, starred in the 1988 movie License to Drive together and became well known for their on and off screen partnership.

After Firstborn, Haim landed a role in the 1985 TV movie A Time to Live and also appeared in several episodes of the TV show Roomies.

He went on to become a teen heartthrob after starring in the 1986 film Lucas, alongside Charlie Sheen and Winona Ryder.

Haim starred alongside Kiefer Sutherland in The Lost Boys, about a group of friends who do battle with a band of teenage vampires.