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Justice Adeniyi Familo

A FORMER EastEnders star was arrested for allegedly battering a friend at a golden wedding bash where they were performing in a Rat Pack tribute act.

Des Coleman, who performed as Sammy Davis Jr, left “Frank Sinatra” David Alacey with a black eye after belting him in a side room.

Rex

Bandmate Paul Drakeley — Dean Martin in the trio — saw the incident at the party, where they were performing for 40 guests.

Des, 59, a weatherman on ITV News Central, was arrested and taken to a nick but released without charge after Paul told police he had acted in self-defence as David had thrown the first punch.

David claimed that dad-of-four Des lost his head during a version of “Ol’ Blue Eyes” Sinatra favourite That Old Black Magic.

He said Des accused him of playing it too fast and stopped the track as the trio sang at the £1million bungalow just after 10pm on Saturday.

David, 51, claimed Des told him, in front of their audience, that they should step into a side room at the property in the village of Penshurst, Kent, where the two men ended up fighting.

Single dad-of-two David said: “He stopped the track in the middle of the performance.

“He would know that’s not something we do.

“He said, ‘I’m not doing that’ and he put another track on.

“I told him, ‘Don’t ever do that’.

“He came into my face and said, ‘Don’t f***ing do that’.

“I said, ‘Des, why don’t you take your money and go?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I will. But first, get in here’.

“I actually thought we were going in there to argue.

“As soon as we got in there, his fists were flying.

“Our bandmate was standing there.

“I couldn’t speak or do anything.

“I couldn’t see out of my left eye at the time.

“Now it’s full of blood and I’ve got blurred vision.

“The guests were in shock because there was blood from my eye and nose.

“They got some ice and called the police.

“Des told the guests, ‘Don’t blame me’.”

David, who claimed he was hit up to ten times, got a lift to Tunbridge Wells Hospital where medics referred him to an eye clinic.

They wanted him to have a CT scan, said David, but he had to get back home by the Sunday to his daughter in Telford, Shrops.

He visited hospital yesterday, fearing nerve damage after losing feeling in the left of his face.

He plans to refund the golden wedding couple, who are in their 70s, and stump up cash to get bloodstains out of a carpet.

He said he has now had it with Des, with whom he has worked for 20 years.

He said: “I don’t ever want to lay eyes on him again.”

The two men, and Paul, 47, axed a sell-out Rat Pack Live show at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, Gloucs, scheduled for Monday night following the dust-up.

BBC

Des played womanising wide-boy Lenny Wallace, who had a fling with Patsy Palmer’s character Bianca Jackson[/caption]

Getty

News Group Newspapers Ltd

Des told The Sun at his end-of-terrace home: ‘It’s been sorted out’[/caption]

A spokesman said of the incident: “Kent Police were called at 10.15pm on Saturday . . . following an altercation at an address in Penshurst.

“A man in his 50s was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault and taken into custody.

“He was later released without charge, as the incident did not meet the evidential threshold for a criminal charge.”

Des played womanising wide-boy Lenny Wallace in BBC One soap EastEnders, appearing in 253 episodes from 1996 to 1999.

During his time in Albert Square, Lenny had a fling with Patsy Palmer’s character Bianca Jackson, sparking a pregnancy scare.

In 2011, the BBC axed him as a £33,000-a-year weatherman on East Midlands Today after he protested his innocence over a firearms charge during a live broadcast.

Des, of Swadlincote, Derbys, put the wrong temperature on a map and told viewers: “You cannot believe everything you see or read.”

I have a smile in my heart and a positive attitude and I will move on.

Des Coleman

He had been accused of threatening a motorist in an alleged road rage attack on the M1 in Bucks.

But he was cleared of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear or violence after evidence came to light about the credibility of the alleged victim.

After his trial, Des said: “I have a smile in my heart and a positive attitude and I will move on.”

He was jailed in his 20s for motoring offences and said his time behind bars made him “realise I wanted something different”.

He was seen on ITV1’s Good Morning Britain on Friday where he occasionally presents the weather.

Quizzed about the punch-up yesterday, Des — who is understood to dispute David’s version of events — told The Sun at his end-of-terrace home: “It’s been sorted out.”

He then made a phone call before driving off in his gold Range Rover.

ITV were also approached for comment yesterday.

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THE abandoned Fair City set which is filled with the original beloved shopfront is expected to be demolished in the coming weeks.

The old Fair City studio looks set for the chopping block as builders have moved in to tear down the set.

Cairn Homes has commenced works on the first phase of its €345million, 608-unit apartment scheme in Donnybrook.

On Monday, builders began clearing the site for a new development.

The old set, which had been in use for over 30 years, will be demolished over the next few months.

The beloved set which included fan favourite’s such as McCoys, The Hungry Pig and Phelan’s will now be turned into a brand-new property space.

Fair City moved to a new set in 2019 following the €107.5m sale of just under nine acres of land at the station’s headquarters to Cairn Homes.

Fair City is now being filmed at RTE Studios in Donnybrook – on a multi-million euro HD-friendly set, behind the radio building at Montrose, for the time being.

However, RTE’s Director General, Kevin Backhurst has stated that there is a “degree of urgency” to find a new home for the production as it will become difficult to film once builders began their work, beside the radio building.

He said: “As soon as they start building with jackhammers, it is very hard to film on a lot outside for Fair City.”

Bakhurst confessed that RTE are still deciding how they will proceed to produce Fair City externally going forward.

He added: “It may be cheaper to rebuild rather than lift and shift. It would still have to be made in and around Dublin as Fair City is a Dublin soap.”

Two hundred of the staff working on Fair City have been fearing for their job after being warned by their union that there would be “no plan B” if RTE could not find a new independent company to take on production of the soap.

Amid fears for people’s livelihoods, Siptu RTE Committee chair Zac Sloper told the Mail that union representatives were concerned the running costs for the soap would make the project “unattractive” to an independent production firm.

Mr Sloper said that Siptu representatives were “surprised” by the lack of detail included in RTE’s plans for Fair City’s future, following recent discussions with Mr Bakhurst.

Back in June, RTE workers were told that the broadcaster would stop producing the flagship Late Late Show and Fair City on site within five years in a bid to slash their costs.

The station had planned to outsource the iconic Late Late Show but was being held up because station bosses were unable to find a studio prepared to host its large set over a full season.

An industry source told The Irish Sun: “Right now RTE can leave The Late Late Show set in place all week in Studio 4 in Montrose.

‘A REAL HEADACHE’

“What’s proving difficult is finding an outside studio facility where one can do that for 30 episodes a season.

“Independent facilities need their studios back after each show for other clients. But The Late Late Show set needs to stay up all week.

“Patrick Kielty sometimes has to pre-record interviews with visiting Hollywood stars or guests unavailable on Friday night.

“It’s a real headache for RTE finding a studio willing to host the huge set from September to May each year.”

Siptu official Robbie Purfield told The Irish Sun: “It’s still vague whether RTE plan on hiring an outside studio and staffing it with RTE people, or transferring staff to an independent production.

rte

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