EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: It’s A beautiful life for Paul McCartney however musical halted over ‘artistic variations’

A wonderful Christmas time should be in store for Sir Paul McCartney, who has just completed his Got Back world tour – which saw him reunite with his former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr. 

While Sir Paul, 82, shows no sign of slowing down, with plans to finish a new album next year, mystery shrouds the It’s A Wonderful Life stage musical he announced he was working on back in 2019. 

It was set to be a glorious collaboration between him and the late theatre impresario Bill Kenwright, who had acquired the rights to Frank Capra’s 1946 classic Christmas film. 

The Oscar-nominated drama starred James Stewart as George Bailey, a suicidal man saved by a guardian angel on Christmas Eve. 

Yet I hear plans for the musical adaptation have been halted after the two Liverpudlian life long friends apparently had creative differences over the production before Kenwright’s death in October last year, aged 78. 

A source tells me: ‘Bill was incredibly upset about the outcome of a business meeting between him and Paul because they couldn’t agree on how the stage version of It’s A Wonderful Life would progress. 

‘Paul wanted the production to be focused on music while Bill wanted more action and speaking on stage. It’s a shame two great legends couldn’t agree on the outcome of the show that they both decided to invest in. 

‘The project won’t see the light of the day.’

Kenwright had been complimentary about working with McCartney on the project and said it was ‘a dream realised’. Meanwhile, Sir Paul admitted of the production: ‘Musicals are difficult things to put together.’ 

But a source close to Macca says the proposed stage play may still come to fruition. Representatives for Paul McCartney and Bill Kenwright declined to comment.

Richard E Grant has some comforting advice for those grieving a loved one. 

The Withnail And I star, whose wife of 35 years, Joan Washington, died from cancer in 2021, tells me: ‘Surround yourself with as many friends as you possibly can. 

‘It helps alleviate the pain of missing someone at Christmas.’ 

Bridgerton star Sabrina is lucky in love with Lachie

She played Lord Bridgerton’s secret lover in the racy Netflix costume drama Bridgerton – but in real life Sabrina Bartlett has found a man ready to commit to her.

The 33-year-old London- born star is to be married to Australian strategist Lachie Stewart. She revealed their engagement on a visit to Perth in Western Australia.

‘Lach’d In,’ she wrote alongside a picture she shared online of her impressive sparkler.

Bon viveur Stephen Fry is taking it easy on the booze. ‘I’m not doing champagne because it gives me asthma,’ he tells me at the Oldie Christmas lunch at the National Liberal Club in London. ‘And I’m not doing whisky because it gives me acid reflux.’ 

Fry, 67 – married to Elliott Spencer, a teetotal comedian 30 years his junior – says he will have a slimming vodka and soda. 

Office bash suits TV star Idris

He’s hardly the nine-to-five type – but Idris Elba still saw fit to throw an office Christmas party-themed bash at the weekend

The Luther actor, 52, was joined by his Canadian model wife Sabrina, 35, at the festive celebration for their mock company ‘Elba Corp’, which was held at Porte Noire King’s Cross in London. 

Idris could be seen wearing thick-rimmed glasses and a blue shirt – while Sabrina, a UN goodwill ambassador, was dressed in a dark skirt suit.

I hear the couple’s workers had to be up-to-date on their dance moves as, while playing music on the decks, Idris warned revellers in jest: ‘If you don’t know this dance, you’re fired.’

Paris gets dressing down from designer 

Irrepressible party girl Paris Hilton’s wealth and popularity have little appeal to Italian-Lebanese fashion designer Tony Ward, who I can disclose, has blacklisted the hotel heiress from wearing his designs.

‘If Paris Hilton wants to wear my dress today, I would say ‘no’. She wouldn’t even get near to it,’ he tells me.

‘When we started 20 years ago, we did dress her, but she doesn’t have the right image for us. I’m not everybody’s designer and I’m not destroying my image.

It’s the fashionable private members’ club where Prince Harry courted Meghan Markle, and now I hear Soho Farmhouse is expanding to the Spanish party island of Ibiza in spring next year.

‘It will bring all the things members love about Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire to members living and visiting the White Island,’ a source tells me. The new Balearic spin-off will include an outdoor pool, a holistic wellness experience with a gym, a yoga deck and an organic kitchen garden restaurant. Any takers?

Give it a rest Jess

Government Minister Jess Phillips infuriated many when she boasted about receiving preferential treatment from a Palestinian doctor at an NHS hospital because of her stance on the Israel-Gaza war.

And she’s also launched a surprising attack on middle-class Left-wing people – criticising them for acting ‘like their s***don’t stink’. ‘They think they are completely and utterly tolerant and they hate intolerance,’ she said.

‘Yet we are completely intolerant to people who think differently to us and I hate it, particularly on a class level.’

She made the comments at her show at London’s Kiln Theatre.