Hollywood star Bradley Cooper has revealed that his latest film, which explores the life of a man finding purpose in the New York comedy scene, was “directly” influenced by British humour.
The film, titled Is This Thing On? is partially based on the life of British comedian John Bishop. The 50-year-old American actor, known for directing and starring in Oscar-nominated films Maestro (2023) and A Star Is Born (2018), directed the movie.
The idea for the film was born when Will Arnett, the voice behind BoJack Horseman, met Liverpool-born comic Bishop. Bishop shared his story of discovering stand-up comedy during a difficult period in his life, choosing to perform at an open-mic night to avoid paying the cover charge.
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Arrested Development actor Arnett’s character in the film, Alex, embarks on a similar journey, beginning his comedy career at New York’s renowned Comedy Cellar.
Speaking at the BFI London Film Festival, Cooper told PA news agency: “It’s inspired by John Bishop’s story, so that was the nugget of it and then he (Will) was working on that with John, and he was just telling me about it because we were friends.
“And I just sort of saw this image of him and I got excited about ‘What if we set it in New York, and what if it’s a movie about a relationship?'”
When asked how British humour had influenced the film, he said: “I think directly, I think all of us have grown up on British humour and love it so yes, it’s indelible.”
In response to whether it differs from US humour, he added: “It’s hard to put an umbrella over everybody, the great comics are so unique.”
Arnett, 55, shared with the PA news agency: “For me there’s a lot more nuance to British humour. And so we tried to inject some of that.”
Bishop reunited with his wife Melanie following a brief separation, and she joined him at the London screening along with their children.
Bishop, 58, revealed to PA: “I couldn’t write it because it was too personal, so (a producer) said, ‘Tell Will’. So that was eight years ago, and then Will said, ‘Look, I’d love to write it with my friend Mark (Chappell)’.
“And then we spent a bit of time developing it, and then it just became their baby, and it’s an act of faith. You’re handing over a part of your life to someone else, and you hope that they’re going to treat it properly, like you would with your child. And he’s done more than that. He’s treated it, he’s nurtured it, and he sent it off to college.”
The film is set to hit cinemas this December, as per Searchlight Pictures.
Nathan Aspinall threw two nine-dart finishes during the Players Championship 31 only to be blown away in the final – as Luke Littler suffered an early exit.
Aspinall, 34, produced perfect darts in a 6-4 victory over Irishman Steve Lennon in the second round, then repeated the feat in a 6-5 win over Germany’s Lukas Wenig in the last 16.
Englishman Aspinall had taken a 2-0 lead against Jermaine Wattimena of the Netherlands in the final in Wigan.
However, Wattimena reeled off eight legs on the bounce to clinically see off Aspinall and seal his second ranking title of the season.
Luke Littler, on the back of a semi-final defeat by Beau Greaves in the World Youth Championship on Monday, suffered a first-round exit as he lost 6-4 to fellow Englishman Ritchie Edhouse.
The 18-year-old world champion is currently 67th in the Players Championship standings and has three events to secure his place in the top 64 to qualify for the finals.
Michael van Gerwen is also in danger of not qualifying after he was knocked out at the same stage with a 6-4 loss to Dom Taylor.
The Dutchman is 92nd in table and must now make the final in the Players Championship 32 on Wednesday to secure his spot because he is skipping the final two events because of a pre-booked holiday.
South Africa became the latest African nation to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after beating Rwanda 3-0 to top its qualifying group, with Nigeria forced to settle for second spot – and the playoffs – despite a Victor Osimhen hat-trick against Benin.
South Africa were docked three points by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for fielding an ineligible player in earlier games in the qualifying stages, but recovered to claim top spot from Benin, who were beaten 4-0 in Nigeria to eventually finish third as the group was settled on Tuesday.
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The Super Eagles, who trailed Benin by three points going into the match and needed to overturn a deficit of two on goal difference, had a two-goal lead at the break at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, Nigeria thanks to Osimhen.
The Galatasaray striker, who was one of the most sought-after talents by Europe’s club teams last summer, completed his hat-trick six minutes into the second half. But Nigerian nerves were not settled until Frank Onyeka’s injury-time strike.
Nigeria will now have to qualify through the CAF playoffs with the three other best second-placed sides in the nine first-round qualifying groups.
Those best runners-up will play in a semifinal-final format, with the winners competing in a FIFA interconfederation playoff for a potential 10th African World Cup spot. The second round of CAF qualifying to reach that stage will take place November 10-18.
South Africa’s victory means it will be the team’s first appearance at a World Cup since qualifying automatically as the host in 2010.
Thalente Mbatha and Oswin Appollis gave Bafana Bafana a two-goal cushion by the 12th minute of their match against already-eliminated Rwanda in Mbombela before Evidence Makgopa added the third in the second half.
While Israeli bombardment has largely stopped, Palestinians in Gaza are careful to not feel overly optimistic as they see the challenges that still lie ahead.
Khallet al-Daba, occupied West Bank – At nine o’clock on a Monday morning in May, the quiet of Khallet al-Daba was shattered by the sound of bulldozers and other demolition vehicles approaching. Accompanying them were Israeli soldiers pouring into the village, forcing families out of their homes and driving livestock into the open.
By the end of May 5, the small community in the heart of Masafer Yatta had been reduced to rubble. It was just one of at least four mass demolitions conducted by Israeli forces this year. For residents, the repeated demolitions are nothing less than a “new Nakba” – an echo of the mass displacement and ethnic cleansing Palestinians suffered in 1948.
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Dozens of military vehicles, armoured carriers and jeeps sealed off the village as the demolitions took place in May, according to locals. Women carrying infants, men still dazed from being forced suddenly from their homes, and children screaming in fear stood under the burning sun for six hours. Behind them, the walls of their houses were turned into rubble.
Families have since been attempting to adapt to a life uprooted. Some have sheltered in underground caves dug years ago as makeshift refuges. Others have crowded into fragile tents that cannot withstand either the scorching summer or the freezing winter.
“This demolition destroyed the lifelines of Khallet al-Daba: water, electricity, solar energy, drinking wells, sewage tanks, and even street lighting,” said Mohammed Rabia, who is the head of the nearby at-Tuwani village council, and deals with Bedouin issues throughout Masafer Yatta. “We’ve returned to the Stone Age, living in caves and tents without the necessities of life… but no one has left the village.”
The Palestinian residents of Khallet al-Daba were forced to leave the village as Israeli forces demolished structures in it in May [Mosab Shawer/Al Jazeera]
Military training zones
Khallet al-Daba lies at the heart of Masafer Yatta, a cluster of 12 Palestinian villages spread across rolling hills south of Hebron, in the southern West Bank.
The United Nations has previously reported that 1,150 people live in Masafer Yatta, but Rabia says the true number is about 4,500 people. They mostly herd sheep and farm wheat and barley, which produces the majority of the income for the Palestinian population in this region.
But, as with approximately 20 percent of land in the West Bank, Israel declared part of the area a military training zone – ‘Firing Zone 918’ – in the 1980s and has been trying to empty it of Palestinians ever since.
The Israeli military has previously justified the May 5 demolition as necessary because of the location of the village in the military training zone.
The practice of declaring areas of the West Bank military training zones was revealed by an Israeli-Palestinian research group, Akevot, as a tactic to expel Palestinian villagers proposed in 1981 by then-Agriculture Minister Ariel Sharon, who later became Israel’s prime minister in the early 2000s.
Homes here are repeatedly demolished under military orders. Residents say the justifications vary – construction without permits, proximity to military training areas, or land claimed for settlement outposts – but the goal is the same: displacement.
A press release last week from Frederieke van Dongen, the humanitarian affairs manager of the aid organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF), agreed with that conclusion, calling Israel’s actions in Masafer Yatta “part of a broader policy of ethnic cleansing, aimed at forcibly transferring Palestinians from the area”.
Some families in Khallet al-Daba have been forced to shelter in paved underground caves after the Israeli demolitions [Mosab Shawer/Al Jazeera]
‘If I leave, I will die’
Among those who were forced to watch their homes collapse this spring was 65-year-old Samiha Muhammad al-Dababseh, a mother of eight who has lived in the village her whole life. Her weathered face carries the strain of decades of hardship.
“I screamed, ‘The army is here!’” she recalled. “Within minutes, soldiers were storming the houses, forcibly removing us without allowing us to take anything – not food or clothes. They pushed me violently and told me, ‘This is not your land. You will not have a home or shelter left.’”
Samiha’s family had already endured three demolitions prior to May. After their stone house was destroyed in May, they were forced to return to a cave that Samiha had dug out by hand and turned into a shelter with her late husband. The women and children slept inside the cave, while the men spread out on the ground outside its entrance.
But then, on September 17, even the cave was destroyed in yet another Israeli attack, which also targeted residential tents, water tanks, and mobile bathrooms, according to the villagers.
“If one tree remains in Khallet al-Daba, I will stay in its shade,” Samiha said. The land is my soul. If I leave, I will die.”
Samiha said that she was now living under a tree. “We live in fear of settler attacks, ” she explained. “Despite everything, we will not leave.
Some Palestinians in Khallet al-Daba have resorted to living in tents after one of Israel’s latest demolitions in the village in September [Mosab Shawer/Al Jazeera]
Living in fear
Samiha’s youngest son, 31-year-old Mujahid al-Dababseh, shares a cave with his wife and three children – as well as 11 other relatives. The farmer says that nights in the cave can be long and frightening.
“The children suffer from nightmares of bulldozers and settler attacks,” he said. “I fear [they will be attacked by] snakes, insects, or from thirst due to the lack of water. Our lives are very difficult; there is no electricity, no food, no safety.”
Mujahid remembers placing stones with his father when they built their home. Watching it collapse was like losing “a piece of my life”, he said.
“The [Israeli] occupation has turned Khallet al-Daba into a second Gaza – they wiped out everything above ground, leaving only rubble,” Mujahid said. “But they failed. No Palestinian child will ever emigrate from here.”
The village is home to just 120 people, a third of them children, all members of the extended Dababseh clan. Its name recalls the hyenas (daba in Arabic) that once roamed the valleys. Today, residents say, it is settlers and soldiers who stalk their land.
For many here, the repeated demolitions are not just about homes, but about erasing life itself – water wells, solar panels, sewage systems, even street lighting. Each time, residents rebuild what they can. Each time, they vow not to leave.
Khallet al-Daba is now a patchwork of caves, rubble and tents. Yet it remains a symbol of Palestinian steadfastness, residents say, rooted in a struggle that has lasted more than seven decades.
“This is an ongoing Nakba,” said Rabia. “But the people have chosen to resist with their presence. Four times, the houses fell. Four times, the people stayed.”
Palestinians say that Israel’s repeated demolitions in Masafer Yatta are part of an attempt to ethnically cleanse them from the area [Mosab Shawer/Al Jazeera]
The Google Pixel Watch 3 offers an excellent alternative to the Apple Watch without breaking the bank, and it’s cheaper than the new Pixel Watch 4 thanks to this rare deal
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Google Pixel Watch 3 is on sale on Amazon(Image: GOOGLE . GETTY)
Amazon Prime Day may have come and gone, but Amazon still has some cracking deals on its website if shoppers dig deep enough – and we’ve spotted a smartwatch contender that gives the Apple Watch Series 11 a run for its money.
The Google Pixel Watch 3 is Google’s latest generation of smartwatch. Despite being eclipsed by the new Pixel Watch 4, it still offers top-notch fitness tracking and a large, luminous screen to monitor workouts for Brits.
This smartwatch boasts a sizeable 45mm screen, which can reach up to 2,000 nits of brightness, making it easy to read whilst on the go. It also comes packed with a host of Fitbit features and allows users to tailor their workouts to create the perfect routine.
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The Pixel Watch 3 offers 24 hours of battery life that can be stretched up to 36 hours with its battery life saver feature. When compared to its nearest competitor, the Apple Watch Series 10, it’s more affordable, provides longer battery life in certain situations, and is a viable option for those with Android phones.
For those browsing for alternatives to track their fitness, there are loads of brilliant smartwatches to grab. Android and Samsung enthusiasts can also get their hands on the Galaxy Watch Ultra for £599, one of Samsung’s flagship devices with absolutely glowing reviews, reports the Express.
TheGoogle Pixel Watch 3 (45 mm), which would normally sell for £399, is currently up for grabs for a massive 45% off, saving shoppers nearly £200 as it plummets to its lowest ever price of £219.99. This deal even beats last year’s Black Friday sale, according to price tracker CamelCamelCamel.
For those who prefer a more fitness-centric device, the Garmin Instinct 3 is available on Amazon. The Express has previously reviewed this alternative model and rated it ‘a true workhorse wearable’ – which you can read about here.
The tech gurus over at The Express have also given the Google Pixel 3 a whirl – and it nearly bagged full stars due to its performance. Deputy tech editor Henry Burrell stated: “Despite all its new features, the Pixel Watch 3 manages to feel simple and out of my way when I’m not using it, which isn’t something I feel when wearing a Galaxy Watch.
“Overall, the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 is an excellent Android smartwatch that doesn’t keep too many features away from buyers without a Pixel phone. It’s a better option over the latest Galaxy Watch, unless you have a Samsung phone.
“Improved battery life, a larger screen and tighter integration with existing Google products make the Pixel Watch 3 markedly better than its predecessors, but if you want a WearOS watch with multi-day battery life, you should go for the OnePlus Watch 2.”
But there are plenty of Amazon shoppers singing the Pixel Watch 3’s praises. One 5-star reviewer raves: “I’ve been using the Google Pixel Watch 3 for a few weeks now, and I’m very impressed. The design is sleek and modern, with a 45mm matte black aluminium case that looks great on my wrist. The display is stunning—bright, sharp, and easy to read even in direct sunlight. The rotating crown and side button make navigation feel intuitive and smooth. As someone who’s focused on fitness, I love the advanced tracking features. The heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and automatic workout detection are spot on. The running analytics from Fitbit are also a standout—having the ability to track pace, cadence, and more has really helped me improve my training.”
They go on to add: “Battery life is solid, and I easily get through a full day of use, including tracking my activities and sleep, with 24+ hours of battery life. Charging is quick too—gets back to 100% in around 80 minutes. If you’re looking for a high-quality smartwatch with top-notch fitness tracking and seamless integration with Android, the Pixel Watch 3 is definitely worth the investment. Highly recommended!”
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Another buyer beams: “Cannot recommend the Pixel Watch 3 enough: So far, it has been a very solid smartwatch. Have been wearing it for the last couple of weeks and have no complaints at all. I get notifications from my phone without any delays, such as emails, keep notes, Spotify, Fitbit, and so on. WhatsApp works perfectly with Bluetooth, can send and receive messages, and audio. The watch faces are 100% customisable with quick access, different colours and designs. Fitbit works fine, showing your overall progress, steps, and calories. I haven’t used the sleep tracking and other features, but I think it does its job well. The battery is long enough, around 1 and a half days, but tbh I don’t wear the watch all the time, only when I go out or for a workout, so I cannot help with that. The updates from Google didn’t cause any issues so far.”
