A video of Ian McKellen and John Bishop hatching from a giant golden egg on The One Show has been going viral on social media.
As one of the most unpredictable and eclectic shows on British television, The One Show has undoubtedly produced some brilliant – and, more often than not, questionable – moments over the years since it first aired on our screens back in 2006.
Airing each weeknight on BBC One, The One Show is described as a magazine-style show that tackles current affairs and other issues in the UK by using a mix of interviews, topical stories, and features – with regular contributors taking to the big red sofa to present reports on everything from history and wildlife, to consumer affairs, health and medicine, and so much more.
Let’s just say, it’s a variety show in the true sense of the word.
Yet, despite the fact we’ve grown to become fairly unfazed by what happens on the show nowadays, we have to hold our hands up and say we never imagined we’d see the day Sir Ian McKellen and John Bishop hatched from a giant golden egg live on national television.
A video of this quite frankly bizarre moment has been doing the rounds on social media since it hit our screens last night, and it’s fair to say viewers are baffled by the whole thing.
To briefly sum up what happened in the short nine-second video – which has already racked up tens of thousands of views, and plenty confused comments – presenters Jermaine Jenas and Lauren Laverne are seen standing outside the BBC studios, and without any wider context, Laverne proceeds to announce the pair’s entrance.
“Crack open the egg… please welcome, Ian McKellen and John Bishop,” Laverne exclaims.
Laverne and Jenas then lend a hand to help one of Britain’s most-revered and beloved actors, and the hugely-popular Liverpudlian comedian step safely out of the giant golden egg.
And that’s it, that’s the end of the video.
A video of Ian McKellen and John Bishop hatching from a giant golden egg on The One Show has been going viral / Credit: BBC OneViewers have been left completely baffled by the whole thing / Credit: BBC
As hilarious and completely nonsensical as the clipped version of the video is, and while it may not seem like an explanation for it is good enough, there is actually a reason why McKellen and Bishop have been travelling the country inside the giant golden egg, and it’s because the pair are due to star alongside one another in a new pantomime called Mother Goose that’s heading out on a big UK tour.
The pantomime tells the story of Mother Goose and her husband Vic, who run an animal sanctuary and live a wholesome life inside an abandoned Debenhams department store – but the sudden arrival of a goose causes upheaval.
During the launch for the pantomime, it’s actually become a bit of a tradition for McKellen and Bishop to introduce themselves by hatching out the giant golden egg and then posing for photos with co-stars, so even though The One Show viewers couldn’t wrap their heads around it, this isn’t the first time the pair have made this kind of an entrance.
This hasn’t stopped people on Twitter from chipping in with their commentary though.
Popular television critic Scott Bryan – who goes by @scottygb on Twitter – has had a hand in making the short video go viral by sharing it to his 94,000 followers and aptly branding the clip “peak One Show”, which is hard to deny.
Why is there an egg? Why is Lauren Laverne introducing a drumroll for the egg? Why is Ian McKellan and John Bishop in the egg?
He also then posed a series of questions as a follow-up, which let’s be honest, we were all thinking ourselves – “Why is there an egg? Why is Laverne introducing a drumroll for the egg? Why is Ian McKellen and John Bishop in the egg?”
BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Clare McDonnell also then commented on the video saying: “I walked past that earlier… if only I’d known… how long did they keep them in there?”
“Imagine some cheese induced nightmare where you were trapped inside an egg with Sir Ian McKellen and John Bishop,” another viewer commented.
This is why I love British light entertainment. It really gives you everything you want, even if you never even imagined you wanted Sir Ian McKellan and John Bishop coming out of a giant golden egg.
A fourth person then gave a brilliant analysis on the situation.
“This is why I love British light entertainment. It really gives you everything you want, even if you never even imagined you wanted Sir Ian McKellan and John Bishop coming out of a giant golden egg,” – and we couldn’t have phrased it any better ourselves.
Featured Image – BBC
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Darts returns to Manchester as Premier League dates are confirmed for 2026
Danny Jones
The schedule for the 2026 Premier League Darts tour has been officially announced, with the PDC’s annual championship returning to Manchester once again.
PDC Premier League fixtures continue to grow in popularity both in TV figures and live match attendance, with a whole new generation of fans getting into ‘the arrows’.
Just as it has for decades now, league darts is coming back to Manchester city centre and the legendary AO Arena once again, with our date landing right in the middle of the season.
Booking a big night right in the middle of a crucial period in the competition? It sounds like 0161 is set to welcome another blockbuster night up at the oche.
Confirmed on Thursday, 11 September, next year’s PDC Premier League Darts campaign will get underway in February, spanning the course of four months and eight countries.
Of the European cities on the circuit, the tournament will be heading to Belgium for the very first time, as the AFAS Dome in Antwerp replaces Exeter.
Elsewhere on the continent, there are two other mainland evenings in Germany and the Netherlands, along with multiple Northern dates here in the UK, such as Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield.
As for Manchester, we’ve been selected for round nine of 17 (including the finals), with the AO Arena set to welcome multiple favoured competitors from the North West, including 18-year-old phenomenon Luke Little from down the road in Warrington, as well as Stockport’s very own Nathan Aspinall.
It was an unforgettable experience for Aspinall last time around in his local event, as he finally managed to win a PDC Premier League night on home turf for the first time in his career.
Those hoping to enjoy a night of darts in front of a Manchester crowd on April 26, 2026, still have to be patient for now, as general admission is still a little way off.
However, if you are interested, you can sign up for the AO’s newsletter to find out more information and get yourself on the waiting list early.
Better, if you go straight through the PDC, you can throw your hat in the ring for the presale window right now and be first in line to grab tickets when they go live.
You can do so HERE and, until then, get your signs and fancy dress at the ready because we’ll be heading back to the ‘boring, boring tables’ soon enough.
See the 2026 PDC Premier League Darts schedule in full down below:
Manchester City said no to a pretty significant player swap with Liverpool last year
Danny Jones
Manchester City reportedly rejected a transfer proposal involving swapping one of their youngest and most exciting stars with close rivals Liverpool in 2024
This could have proved to be an interesting one…
Man City aren’t exactly short on forwards at the moment and have brought in plenty of attacking options over the past year, and with Erling Haaland breaking all manner of records up front for them, they didn’t find it too hard to sell on another promising young striker in Julián Álvarez for a club record sale.
However, as per recent claims made by a Telegraph Sport journalist, there was a possibility of Álvarez swapping the blue of City for the red of Liverpool.
🚨🚨| In summer 2024, when Liverpool realised Luis Díaz wanted to join Man City, their recruitment team proposed the Colombian to the Etihad Stadium in exchange for Julián Alvarez. Man City said: “We don’t sell to rivals." Liverpool said: “Neither do we then."
That’s according to football writer Chris Bascombe, anyway, who recently wrote that the two Premier League sides could have engaged in a player swap deal were the division’s then Treble-winners willing to negotiate with the only other team that has really contested the title with them in recent years.
As you can see, Bascombe states that Luis Díaz wanted a switch to the Etihad Stadium even before the current English champions shuffled their front three.
This has been backed up by The Times’ Paul Joyce as well, who says that the Colombian winger was ultimately “unsettled” by interest from City and others
Díaz (who recently signed for Bayern Munich) made it clear he wanted to play under Pep Guardiola, and it seems there was at least some willingness from the Merseyside outfit.
Provided they get an increasingly wantaway Julián Álvarez in return.
With Haaland having been brought in and making himself comfortably the go-to number nine for what could very well be the next decade, they clearly saw an opportunity to offer him an alternative, but Man City simply said, “We don’t sell to rivals.”
Ultimately, the now 25-year-old World Cup winner went to Europe, joining Atletico Madrid for a whopping £81.5m.
Regardless, it seems hard to imagine not only two top-flight English teams doing a deal like this but to picture what it would have been like to see Álvarez, who was still very highly thought of among a large section of supporters, being cheered on by the fans inside Anfield.
The Argentinian striker – though he has been utilised in a variety of positions at the top end of the pitch – has well and truly shone in La Liga, and now looks like he could be set to swap Madrid for Barcelona.
Álvarez has apparently made it clear to those closest to him that he wants Barca, and despite the summer window closing, the Catalan giants could pursue a deal to sign him next year when his contract expires, or indeed, even go after him this January.
Meanwhile, after bringing in plenty of new talent over the past few months, with Manchester City now effectively being given the green light to proceed with a major commercial sponsorship deal, you could very well see yet more big money being spent in seasons to come.
Emily Sergeant -
20th October 2022 
