Canary Catch Up: The Take That Circus comes to town

Hello and welcome to Canary Catch Up. Each week, our resident telly addict Rachel Charlton-Dailey will bring us bang up to date with the shows she’s been obsessed with, what she’s hate-watching, and what she can’t wait to get stuck into.

It’s officially summer! As someone with multiple health conditions triggered by the weather, the move to summer is another that knackers me out. But it was lovely to get down to my local beach to watch the sun rise on the summer solstice. There’s something glorious about thousands of people gathered together to appreciate how majestic nature is.

Take That bring The Circus to Manchester and beyond

Another thing I enjoy about summer is outdoor gigs, but naturally when I saw Take That a couple of weeks ago it absolutely chucked down. Luckily, the same didn’t happen when their Manchester show was livestreamed on Amazon on Saturday night. While this was essentially a redo of their 2009 Circus tour, it felt timeless.

The production value was off the scale, from giant balloons to a whole myriad of circus performers and of course a giant elephant. The unexpected best part of the show was realising the elephant’s tail is actually the incredible dancer Briony Albert suspended upside down. How you get that job, I’ll never know. Another mention has to go to the powerhouse that is Zoe Birkett, who stepped into Lulu’s shoes to perform Relight My Fire.

It might be deeply uncool, but my night at the Circus tour was a night I’ll never forget. I’m so glad I got to relive it with the livestream.

Canary Catch Up — Traitors US is finally back

The new series of The Traitors US is finally airing on iPlayer. Whilst ours centres around plebs, the American version features reality TV stars. Meaning the drama is amped up as everyone fights for the limelight. This season’s crop includes Real Housewives star Lisa Rinna, Drag Race superstar Monet X Change and Taylor Swift’s soon-to-be mother-in-law, Donna Kelce.

While I love the seriousness and mystery of the UK version, the absolute ridiculousness of the US version wins me over every time.

Only Murders in the Building hires every single British actor

Disney announced that since they’re filming season 6 of Only Murders in the Building in London, they’ve hired pretty much every British actor ever. Last week, they announced that David Tennant, Nicola Coughlan, Jodie Whittaker, Jim Broadbent, Richard Ayoade, Adrian Lukis and Kathryn Hunter would be part of the fun.

They’ll be joining already announced new season recurring cast members Jennifer Saunders, Sean Teale, Simone Ashley, Amar Chadha-Patel, Rhea Norwood, Matthew Beard, Sharon Horgan, Martin Freeman, Jamie Demetriou, Anjana Vasan, Jane Horrocks, Derek Jacobi, Lesley Nicol and Geri Halliwell. Yes, even bloody ginger spice is in it!

With this high-profile cast, the London-set series looks sure to be a good one, but let’s hope they don’t rely too much on all the cameos and let the usually brilliant storytelling speak for itself.

Canary Catch Up — Looking Ahead: Heartstopper Forever

Our lives are better because we met them.

HEARTSTOPPER FOREVER. 17 July. 🍂 pic.twitter.com/cD8hsyKzCY

— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) June 16, 2026

The long-awaited final installment of Netflix’s teen drama, Heartstopper Forever, hits our screens on 17 July and just in time, the trailer has dropped. While there’s sure to be lots of queer joy, we’ve also got a teaser that there’ll be more anxiety and worry for Nick and Charlie as they continue to learn to navigate their relationship. I can already tell this is going to make me bawl my eyes out.

I hope you all continue to enjoy the heat and give yourself plenty of time to get in the shade and catch up on some fantastic TV.

Featured image via MEN