Ashley Walters 'gutted' he's missing England game
Despite working near Cape Town for the past couple of months, rapper turned actor Ashley Walters is going to miss the chance to watch England play Algeria. The star, who was 'Asher D' when part of rap group So Solid Crew, says he'll be truly gutted not to be at the stadium on Friday cheering on England, especially as many of his fellow cast members of BBC1 sci-fi drama Outcasts filming near Cape Town at the moment, have tickets for the big match. Instead, the former Hustle star will be on a plane back to England to film an episode of C4's Comedy Roast. Ashley (pictured with vuvuzela and flying the flag) says: "As a big Arsenal and England fan I'm gutted to be on a 12-hour flight back to Britain and not at the match. Believe me I've tried everything to get out of it, but it's a long-standing commitment. Who knows, though, there's a quarter-final and semi-final in Cape Town so if things work out I may get to see England in one of those."
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.