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The Death of Paula Yates | Dad's Army & The Palliser's on DVD

© Hunter Peters

Paula Yates

Another death has rocked the British entertainment world as controversial television presenter Paula Yates was found dead in her home, the victim of an apparent overdose. Whether her death is eventually ruled an accident or suicide it brings to a tragic close the colorful, contentious life of a woman who had found herself a magnet for tragedy and controversy in her final years. Ms. Yates first gained fame as co-host, with Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland,  of the '80's pop music program The Tube. Yates combination of apparent air-headedness and obvious sensuality made her a fast favorite and a follow-up stint on the morning program The Big Breakfast solidified Britain's fascination with the increasingly exhibitionistic Yates.

Outside of Britain Yates was perhaps better known outside Britain as the wife of rock star, Live Aid saint Bob Geldof, and lover of INXS singer Michael Hutchence. As the years progressed Yates became more and more obsessed with her own celebrity and took great care to keep herself on the public's radar, as a result she became a target for pundits and her life became something of a slow-motion train wreck with the public unable to tear it's eyes from the mess. I'll never forget an appearance she made on Have I Got News For You when she referred to Private Eye editor Ian Hislop as "the Devil's Sperm". From bizarre baby names - Fifi Trixiebelle, Peaches, Pixie (all with Geldorf) and Heavenly Hirani Tiger Lily (with lover Hutchence) - to tales of drugs, debauchery and adultery Yates found herself constantly under fire for her bizarre and inappropriate behavior.. 

Yates was still married to Geldorf when she interviewed Hutchence on The Big Breakfast and fell deeply in love with him. They were preparing to marry when tragedy and controversy came calling hand in hand when Hutchence was found dead in his Sydney, Australia home. Though generally believed to have been a suicide, Hutchence was found hanged, Yates could never accept that her future husband had taken his own life. She maintained that the death was an accident. Hutchence's death marked the beginning of the end for Yates. Custody battles and reports of increasingly erratic behavior plagued Yates and to many her premature death at the age of forty seemed like the inevitable conclusion to her often pathetic story.

 

Dad's Army and The Pallisers come to DVD

While the floodgates haven't exactly opened it's encouraging to see more and more classic British television programs seeing North American release on DVD. Two all time favorites are on the verge of hitting store shelves are the Home Guard shenanigans of Dad's Army and the classic drama The Pallisers.

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