Declan Donnelly has been granted permission to raise the roof of a party room he is building next to his £7million mansion in west London, Hounslow Council has confirmed.
The Ant and Dec presenter and I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! host bought the neighbouring building for £2.25million three years ago and has been converting it into an entertaining space attached to his family home.
The party room already features a custom-built bar, a vintage mirror, an ornate fireplace and bespoke seating, and planners have now signed off on Donnelly's request to raise the roof parapet by eight inches.
Council documents posted online state that "the variation comprises a modest increase in parapet height of approximately 200mm."
Hounslow Council said the proposal "remains limited in scope and does not alter the approved footprint, use, or overall form of the extension," adding that it does not "harm the character of appearance" of the nearby conservation area. Donnelly had guaranteed "high quality and conservation-appropriate architectural detailing" for the alteration.
Donnelly, 50, who was born in Newcastle, is one half of the presenting duo Ant and Dec alongside Anthony McPartlin, and has an estimated fortune of £62million. He lives at the west London mansion with his wife Ali Astall, 47, and their children Isla, eight, and Jack, four. In Easter 2021, burglars tried to break into the property while the family slept but fled empty-handed after failing to get through the gates.
Donnelly's I'm A Celebrity co-star Ant McPartlin relocated from Wimbledon to Surrey earlier this year. McPartlin recently joked that he had been forced out of London, telling Donnelly on a podcast: "Yes, I had to move out of London because people were parking bikes outside of my house." Perhaps Donnelly's new party house will tempt him back.
Tom Fletcher on his Olivier-winning Paddington musical
McFly's Tom Fletcher has spoken of his "overwhelming excitement" after producers hired him to write the music and lyrics for the West End show Paddington, which won seven Olivier Awards in April. Despite the show's success, the 41-year-old singer insisted his musical talent was nothing to boast about. "I'm a terrible musician, I should not be doing this job," he said at the Underbelly Boulevard Theatre in London's Soho.
Sarah Beeny to launch a YouTube channel
Property Ladder presenter Sarah Beeny is following Holly Willoughby and Vanessa Feltz into online broadcasting. "I'm about to launch my own YouTube channel. I want to talk on lots of different things but mostly the home," Beeny said. The 54-year-old, who was watching her four sons take to the catwalk at the Vin + Omi Anarchy show at the art'otel London Hoxton, added: "The big problem is the sponsorship, and getting the money to make it. I don't want to film it all by myself at home."
Meera Syal warns against Botox and weight-loss jabs
Dame Meera Syal has urged younger women to steer clear of Botox and Ozempic, warning that cosmetic procedures can be "death" for an actress. The Goodness Gracious Me star, 65, praised fellow actresses Lesley Manville, Juliet Stevenson and Harriet Walter for "not having anything done to their faces."
"It's beautiful to see an older face that is reflecting every life experience," Syal said. "Let's normalise that for the young women growing up who are jumping to Botox and Ozempic in their 30s. Nobody needs to do that."
She added: "It seems to be death to me for an actress to mess with the mobility of your face, because that's what your face is for."
Georgina Castle and Simon Lipkin welcome first child
Actress Georgina Castle, 33, and her West End actor husband Simon Lipkin, 40, are celebrating the arrival of their first child, just over a year after their wedding. Castle, the daughter of former tennis player and BBC Wimbledon pundit Andrew Castle, 62, announced the birth of their daughter, Birdie Wilde Lipkin, over the weekend, sharing the news on Instagram with the words: "Never known love like it."
Georgina and Simon met while starring together in the West End production of Elf The Musical in 2022.
Prince Harry's Diana film faces a rival documentary
Prince Harry is said to have ambitions to make a film about his mother, Princess Diana, during his first year back in the UK. However, his project will be trailing behind an exclusive documentary series called Diana, which has just launched on the streaming app Snips.
The microdrama, in which some scenes have been voiced using recordings of the late princess, charts the key moments that led Diana to find her strength against what is described as "The Firm." An insider on the production said: "It draws a direct, haunting parallel to the Sussexes' modern-day war with the institution and their current battle against the royal gatekeepers."
