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PHOTOS: First Official Images of Idris Elba in "Luther" Season Three

PHOTOS: BBC

Your first look at Idris Elba as Detective Chief Investigator John Luther in Season Three of the BBC series Luther. BBC has confirmed the series will return on BBC One this summer. The Beeb released the first official images for the upcoming four episode third season on Friday ...

And the actor released a behind-the-scenes image from the editorial on his Facebook fan page. One more image and watch the Season Three announcement AFTER THE JUMP ...

VIDEO: UK: Meet the Adorable Gay Couple in the Barclays Television Ad

Twenty-three-year-old Niki Mahona and his 19-year-old boyfriend Luis Donegan-Brown are the gay couple featured in the popular UK television spot for Barclays' personalized debit cards. The thirty second advert has been described as one of that nation's  "few mainstream TV commercials with an openly same-sex couple."

Watch it AFTER THE JUMP ...

Gay Star News reports the couple were "street cast" outside Selfridges department store in London.

They picked Niki Mahon outside his job at London’s famous Selfridges department store. And they gave him and his 19-year-old real-life boyfriend, Luis Donegan-Brown—who also works at Selfridges—a taste of fame.

The couple have only been together for just over a year but now they have the claim to fame of being one of the very few same-sex partnerships ever depicted in a British mainstream TV commercial. And it’s been a success—so far an incredible 300,000 Barclays customers have personalized their debit cards.

"I am proud that I can be open about my sexuality and not shy away from comments," adds Niki Mahona. "For many people who aren’t able to come out, I would hope that this might help plant the seed in their mind that they too can be open."

The Barclays television spot is also one of the rare examples of a same-sex POC couple in mainstream advertising. Wells Fargo—another multinational financial services corporation—used several Black gay couples in advertising campaigns. Lufthansa Airlines also used a multiracial male couple in an ad campaign several years ago on Rod 2.0.

Love, love the spot. Watch it AFTER THE JUMP ...

Ashley Walters Travels with "Doctor Who" to "The Centre of the Tardis"

SCREENCAPS: BBC

British rapper, actor and Rod 2.0 crush object Ashley Walters—last seen serving shirtless BQ sex siren gogo boy realness for UK homostyle magazine Attitude—was the featured guest star in last week's episode of Doctor Who.

Watch the episode—it may not remain long on YouTube—and interviews with Walters AFTER THE JUMP ...

Walters discusses working on the episode "The Centre of the Tardis."

It's a hard job working on Doctor Who. It looks flawless on the screen but it's hard. Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise [Coleman] have to put in a lot of work. Matt was so humble and helped me so much. I'd love to do it again.

More HD screen captures of Walters, watch the episode—it may not remain long on YouTube!—and interviews AFTER THE JUMP ...

VIDEO: Graham Norton Tells Lewis Hamilton: "Shoot It In My Mouth!"

Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton is well known for spraying champagne after he wins a race. UK talk show host Graham Norton asks Hamilton to demonstrate those skills on the latest episode of The Graham Norton Show. "Go ahead and shoot it!" says Norton. "Spray it in my mouth!"

Norton fulfills his fantasies—"It's delicious! But it burns my eyes!"—AFTER THE JUMP ...

HOT: Lucien Laviscount Strips Down to Boxer Briefs on "Kitten Chic"

SCREENCAPS: Sky Living

Earlier this week Rod 2.0 introduced you to Britain's super-abtastic soap opera star Lucien Laviscount who has an adorable role in the new Sky Living pilot Love Matters: Kitten Chic. Laviscount is cast as the gay teen crush object and unrequited love interest of Poppy Rush's character "Kitten."

A few more screencaps from the episode. This from the scene in Kitten's bedroom where Laviscount's character is changing clothes and strips down to boxer briefs.

More plus Kitten brings a bottle of bubbly AFTER THE JUMP ...

HOT: UK's Lucien Laviscount Plays Gay and Strips Off for "Kitten Chic"

Britain's super-abtastic soap opera star Lucien Laviscount—best known for Coronation Street and Waterloo Road—has an adorable role in the new Sky Living pilot Love Matters: Kitten Chic which debuted two weeks ago. Laviscount is cast as "Jake", the gay teen crush object and unrequited love interest of Poppy Rush's character "Kitten." The teenage girl is an obsessed Kylie Minogue fan and determined to make "Jake" turn straight ... and only for her. 

Laviscount tells UK homostyle glossy Gay Times:

"The script was hilarious and I really wanted the part because there are so many twists and turns. I’ve played gay a couple of times before and it’s never a problem. In some shows if you’re playing gay you have to act in an obvious way. But I’ve got a lot of friends who you wouldn’t know if they were gay or straight. And in the end, who gives a f**k? It doesn’t matter. It’s great to play that kind of person; you can have so much more fun when sexuality isn’t obvious and you keep people thinking."

Lucien also shares a quick kiss with Jon-Paul Bell, who strips down for the current issue of GT. Lucien is "a great kisser," Bell told GT. "He went straight in there with his hand on my cheek, no messing about."

Laviscount was cast on Celebrity Big Brother 2011 and often appeared shirtless or wearing only underwear. The actor also stripped off for Britain's gay glossies GT and Attitude. Watch a behind-the-scenes trailer of Kitten Chic featuring Laviscount's gorgeous accent, video from the GT and Attitude editorials and several more screen captures AFTER THE JUMP ...

"The Guardian" Interviews British Director Topher Campbell

This is fantastic. The UK's Independent Theatre Council—an umbrella group of over 400 independent theatre and performing arts groups—has appointed Topher Campbell as its new chairman. The critically-acclaimed theatre director, writer and filmmaker is the artistic director of The Red Room Theatre Company. Campbell—and R20 friend—also co-founded the Rukus! Federation, which remains the only Black LGBT performing arts organization in the UK.

The Guardian interviewed Campbell about his new position. The director discussed the importance of diversity in the arts ...

[R]acism is still alive and well in all its forms. Meanwhile, the liberal consensus that guided social policy in the UK, including diversity, has now broken down and we find ourselves having to justify everything in terms of its value for money.In this context, there is little space for the cultural value of diversity. Policy is saying black and brown people no longer matter. We need to make the case for recognising and supporting the idea of "different but equal."=

... And the intersection of race and sexuality in his work. 

Being black and gay means I've experienced life with an outsider's perspective in relation to the UK's white middle-class cultural hegemony, and also in relation to the black diaspora. Rukus! and Red Room are independently spirited companies dedicated to challenging the idea that mainstream British culture offers all the answers. I mean this in an international sense too. The deference we show to certain cultural institutions and people and the way in which race is marginalised diminishes us all.

There some voices in the world that will always be listened to. We hear them all the time. As a black male my voice is not given the same respect: I am considered aggressive in school, a menace on the streets, and an oddity in some social circles. Prison is my natural home. Drugs are my currency. As a black gay man I have been rendered invisible or worthy of death.That I am now middle-class and educated means I have a more acceptable face. To make myself visible and to stake my place as an equal voice in society is something I'm compelled to do. This is something I know saves lives.

Topher Campbell’s first documentary In This Our Lives premiered at the 2009 London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. He is a regular contributor to The Guardian on politics, the arts and issues in Britain's Black Gay communities.

Campbell is a fellow contributor to  For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Still Not Enough, the award-winning and critically acclaimed anthology released in 2012 and edited by New York Times bestselling author/television commentator Keith Boykin. You must read his essay—which describes growing up Black, gay and English in the church, which he has also discussed at The Guardian.

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"For Colored Boys" To Be Released August 8

Beyoncé Covers UK "Vogue", Previews "Grown Woman" for Pepsi

Keeping up with the omnipresent pop culture juggernaut better known as Beyoncé: Bey revealed her much-anticipated #BeyHereNow announcement this morning ... and it's a Pepsi commercial.  Albeit a very clever one.

The one-minute spot "stars" multiple incarnations of herself and previews a new Timbaland-produced track entitled "Grown Woman" that be released on April 8. Watch it AFTER THE JUMP ...

Beyoncé also debuted on the cover of British Vogue on Wednesday. The 31-year-old entertainer defended the use of "Mrs. Carter" on her world tour. That is from her married name to Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter.

"I guess I am a modern-day feminist," she told the magazine, reports the New York Daily News. "I do believe in equality. Why do you have to choose what type of woman you are? Why do you have to label yourself anything? I'm just a woman, and I love being a woman."

Watch Pepsi's "Mirrors", the commercial that everyone is talking about AFTER THE JUMP ...

SPORNO: Rugby Hotness Tom Varndell Takes You in the Gym

PHOTOS: GETTY EUROPE

England's rugby super-hotness Tom Varndell demonstrates the fine art of carrying the ball without breaking a sweat ...

More sporno-tastic images from the London Wasps match against the Worcester Warriors, watch Varndell take you in the gym for his workout and listen to his very sexy accent AFTER THE JUMP ...

SPORNO: England's Rugby Phenom Manu Tuilagi is Big and Hard

PHOTOS: GETTY EUROPE and TELEGRAPH

For those size queens who insist upon shoulders like boulders, huge arms, massive pecs and Jurassic thighs: Introducing the 6ft and 238 pound Manu Tuilagi, the 21-year-old Samoan-born rugger who has been described as "the future of the game" and as "England rugby's wrecking ball" at the recently-concluded Six Nations Championship.

The profile in The Telegraph is boderline homoerotics :

He has a thin Polynesian ponytail that flicks against his broad shoulders and an ornate Samoan tattoo that covers his right arm. ... On the pitch, Tuilagi is a rampaging bundle of teak-hard muscle. His pace and power stem from his compact, low-slung thrust.

Tuilagi's practices his "low-slung thrust" in a few more spono-tastic images AFTER THE JUMP ...