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.
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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.
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“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.
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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.
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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.
A fourth person then gave a brilliant analysis on the situation.
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“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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‘Hefty’ Foo Fighters ticket prices for surprise Manchester gig divide opinion
Danny Jones
Foo Fighters fans, gig-goers and all-round music lovers in general have been left up in arms after the legendary American rock band announced some surprise shows in the UK and Ireland – including here in Manchester – as ticket prices have labelled ‘shameful’ by some.
In case you missed the news that sent us here in Manchester and all over the nation into bedlam, Foo Fighters recently revealed they would be playing just a handful of shows up and down the country, all at smaller venues than their usual arena tour dates.
Sharing the news fairly last-minute over the weekend, with tickets going on sale this past Sunday and (shock) selling out almost immediately, many have taken issue with the band’s and/or promoters’ approach to the event.
While lots have revelled in the excitement of a show scheduled for this week being dropped on our laps in the eleventh hour, lots of others feel the price point for the tickets is ‘ridiculous’.
Although they’re not quite on the level of the controversial Oasis/Harry Styles sagas, at £99 including all fees, they’re still up there with the most expensive gig tickets venues like these will ever charge.
Most poignantly, the tickets were sold strictly in person via the box office, with fans queuing up outside a trio of venues.
Taking place at the O2 Ritz, which has a capacity of roughly 1,500, the Foo Fighters’ Manchester date is not only one of the most in-demand gigs, but also promises to be one of their sweatiest – and, apparently, most divisive.
For some, this is a very cool bit of marketing and at least an attempt to curb online ticket touts, plus helping support live music spaces directly; on the other hand, the significant fee remains a sticking point they refuse to move past.
Responding in the comments underneath the post by the Ritz, one person wrote: “That ticket price is f****** disgusting. It’s not costing them f*** all to play there, if Harry Styles can play the Co-op Live for £20 then they should”; another simply added, “99 quid is wild, do better.”
Safe to say it has split opinions across the board.
i really want to know who is paying £100 to see foo fighters at o2 academy ritz and what they do for work to justify that
Big fan of the foo fighters but having only in person tickets and then still charging £100 is a joke. Then to move other bands earlier to slot them in isn’t fair
As you can see, it’s also affected other acts set to play these same rooms this month, too.
Others have also doubted whether the ‘face value exchange’ tactic really works all that much, as a few people on social media reported having already found a number of tickets being listed on resale on certain platforms.
What do you make of artists charging these kinds of prices for exclusive one-off shows like this, or the cost of gig tickets in general these days?
Better yet, did any of you succeed in grabbing tickets to see Foo Fighters at the Ritz here in Manchester this Friday, 27 February?
Featured Images — Audio North/Publicity picture (via Foo Fighters/O2 Ritz)
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Manchester Sinners actress Wunmi Mosaku scoops BAFTA alongside other ‘surprise’ northern winners
Emily Sergeant
Manchester-raised actress Wunmi Mosaku was one of the well-deserved winners at the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards last night.
Born in the Nigerian city of Zaria to Yoruba parents, Oluwunmi Olapeju Mosaku – known professionally as Wunmi Mosaku – moved to England when she was just a year old, and settled in the Manchester community of Hulme, going on to be educated at Trinity Church of England High School and Xaverian Sixth Form College, before heading off to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London to study acting.
The 39-year-old has been a celebrated actor of the screen for nearly 20 years this year, with some of her most notable roles being in TV series like Vera, Luther, and Lovecraft Country, as well as being a member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
But it was for her role as Annie Ryan Coogler’s 2025 hit horror film Sinners that has truly become one of her breakout roles – a role she won the Best Supporting Actress award for at last night’s BAFTAs.
Wunmi was already a BAFTA TV Award winner or her role as Gloria Taylor in the 2016 TV film Damilola, Our Loved Boy, but this was her first win on the Film side, and it was a win that has turned the Best Supporting Actress ‘Oscar race’ into one of the more up-in-the-air categories this Awards Season.
Taking to the stage to accept the award, Wunmi thanked her family, her fellow nominees and co-stars, director, and wider team, as well as explaining what the role of Annie meant to her.
“I found a part of myself in Annie,” she said in her speech. “A part of my hopes, my ancestral power, and connection, parts I thought I had lost or tried to dim as an immigrant trying to fit in. Through her, I deepened my belief in my potential, my capacity to love and hope in the darkest moments of grief.”
Wunmi’s win wasn’t considered the only ‘surprise’ win of the night in the major acting categories either – nor was it the only major win for a northern actor – as the Best Actor in a Leading Role award went to Hull-born actor Robert Aramayo for his role in the 2025 biographical drama film, I Swear, based on the true life story of John Davidson – a Scottish man with severe Tourette’s syndrome, and follows his life at a time when his condition was barely identifiable.
Robert’s win was considered so ‘surprising’ by many given the fact he is not nominated for any of the other major televised award ceremonies this year – including the Oscars – with the two main frontrunners of the season being heavy-hitters being Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo Dicaprio.
Aramayo also took home the EE Rising Star Award, which is voted on for by the British public.
Sean Penn was another shock – but again, well-deserved – winner of the night, taking home Best Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another, with his win being similar to Wunmi’s in that he is the third winner of the Best Supporting Actor category so far this season.
Elsewhere in the ceremony, some of the other big winners of the night were One Battle After Another, which scooped Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson, among others, while Hamnet took Best British Film, and the film’s lead Jessie Buckley won Best Actress in Leading Role – with the latter being, arguably, the only expected and predicted acting win of the night.
Emily Sergeant -
20th October 2022 
