News Round-up

Calls to ChildLine jump by 50% after soaps run storylines about child abuse
Soap storylines about sexual abuse and increased reporting of violence towards children in the media has led to a 50% increase in calls to ChildLine, the charity said today. It believes abused children have been encouraged to tell on their tormentor after seeing similar stories on the news and on programs like EastEnders.

A plot in BBC1’s EASTENDERS, which saw Bianca Jackson’s 15-year-old stepdaughter Whitney Dean sexually abused by Bianca’s fiance Tony, prompted complaints from viewers when it was screened last autumn. But the BBC defended its decision, saying the storyline had been approached with sensitivity and they had sought advice from the NSPCC, which runs ChildLine.

UGLY BETTY star America Ferrera moves to the east side
Actress America Ferrera and UGLY BETTY star has listed her Beachwood Canyon home in the Hollywood Hills for $1,685,000. The star originally bought the property in early 2008 through a trust for $1,415,000 but now that UGLY BETTY's production has transferred to the East Coast, America too has left the building.

INTERVIEW: Former ATWT and AMC star Cady McClain
On Dixie's peanut butter banana pancakes death: "A lazy, malicious choice by a pissed off writer. No one should be above criticism or feedback- especially when it comes from someone like me who was trying so hard to make every moment work, and had a history of really being a team player and a trooper. After all those years I assumed the higher ups would know that I was coming from a good place, but that wasn't the case. I don't think as actors we just just have to bend over and take it up the ying yang, but sometimes there can be a climate in which the higher ups just don't want to hear it."

Is GUIDING LIGHT coming out of the closet?
From EclipseMagazine.com: "The writing is really good. Not to mention Crystal Chappell (Olivia) and Jessica Leccia’s (Natalia) performances are impeccably acted. Their on screen chemistry makes the Olivia/Natalia coupling believable. You find yourself instantly invested."

Triangle murder victim Daniel Tedlie was set to leave New York for Colorado
The East Village man whose platonic dinner with a former flame sent the woman's current beau into a murderous rage was only days from leaving New York, his heartbroken mother said Sunday. Daniel Tedlie, 57, was leaving the city to move to Colorado in just a week when he was gunned down inside ex-girlfriend Debra Silver's pricey upper West Side co-op apartment.

Silver, 46, was a lawyer, but her passion was the arts, her friends said. Using the stage name "Coco Silvera," the brunette made guest appearances on television shows like GUIDING LIGHT and THE DAILY SHOW.