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So, a while back I convinced Lara (who plays Marla) to give me the grand tour of what I expected to just be the Mackinnon's household... but boy, was I in for a shock, as are you. To learn a few set secrets, watch the vid below.

But before you press play, I've got a couple of announcements. Firstly, I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for sticking with me throughout this seriously traumatic time of The Cut being off air. It's great reading all your comments and getting new blog ideas from you, plus it's good to know it's not just me that loves The Cut.

The show will now return on the 12th July, which is a little later than planned, but as a thank you to everyone who's been sticking with the blog whilst The Cut has been off air you'll get the chance to see the first part of the new episode before anyone else. Just send your email address to thecut@bbc.co.uk (don't post on here) and I'll send you an *exclusive* preview of the first episode of The Cut next Friday. That's THREE days before anyone else will get to see it! Epic, no?

Secondly, Billie (plays Olive) has agreed to write a blog this Friday! YAY. If there's anything you want to ask her, from which Twilight character she prefers in real life to how she manages to make herself cry on set, leave them as comments here or email 'em in to: thecut@bbc.co.uk

But now, without further ado, it's the set tour of The Cut! Enjoy. Oh and I'm really sorry for the "reconstruction" moment...

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Hello all,

Whilst we're off air, our writing team has been working hard to develop stories for Series 3. Thanks to all of you who submitted ideas - they were very helpful, and we hope you'll see how we've used them later in the year.

Before that, we hope you like Series 2 - there are some really juicy stories coming up - the best yet, I think. Last week, we had the readthrough for the final episodes with the cast and crew, and only then did they find out their fates. All I can tell you is that there are some big surprises coming your way.

Series 2 has been a blast - it's great to have welcomed our newbies to the show, they're a lovely gang to work with and it's a lot of fun figuring out with the writing team what journeys to take their characters on. The storyline ideas you submitted to us in December last year were very helpful in creating the series, and we tried to make sure we used as many as possible.

Some examples, Bee asked us whether we could do a storyline about "siblings that don't get along" which spurred us on to develop the character who became Alex. Another suggestion that we took onboard was from Lucy, who said "I'd love to see a storyline between two best friends (girl and boy) and they like each other at contrasting times, both too shy to ask the other out". Well, Lucy, please keep watching Cam and Frankie...you never know. We got a great steer from Eilidh, who asked for "serious issues that affect teenagers, but dealt with through comedy! You always pay more attention when it's funny!". I agree with that totally, and so we've tried to warm up Series 2 for you guys, and we'll continue to try to make it funny for Series 3.

And on that note, my personal favourite comment that was submitted was from Ruby, who asked for us to write a story about a character who "rides a horse and other people think they are really posh and horrible when in actual fact they are nicer than everyone else". I am definitely going to try and use that somewhere! Eyes peeled.

So, loud and clear, we love hearing from you guys, and we take great interest and care with your suggestions, so please keep them coming.

Hope you enjoy the rest of Series 2.

Best,

Al
-----

(Ps. If you're a budding writer, then you need Al's top writing tips! They're here)

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Now, let's be honest - whatever you think of it, football fever has officially swept the nation. Even I've learnt the off-side rule, and that's saying something.

However, if you're tired of all this football talk or so overÌýit after the England game yesterday (sob!), then fear not, because the cast of The Cut have put together this little video that will make you think again.

Yep, it's the World CUT 2010!

So, they've done Wimbledon (ish), they've done football (sort of). what other skills do you think we should be testing them on?!

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Yep, that's right, Dan 'the theme tune' Black performed 'U + Me' acoustically on The 5:19 Show a while back, but don't worry if you missed it... cos here it is in all it's beauty!

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Thanks to everyone who sent in their questions - Lara tried to answer as many of them as she could! :)

PS. Browine points for anyone who can work out what ´óÏó´«Ã½ Switch show the picture behind her is from...

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This photo was taken of Elliott while they were rehearsing a scene... but why he's pulling this face, I don't know! So, I say, we make the reason up. That's right people, it's a CAPTION COMPETITION!

Leave your captions as comments below and we'll ask Alex (who plays Elliott) to pick his favourite...

Mine is... "Don't you like my stylish new handbag?!"

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I popped down to set a little while ago to get all the goss and, well, most of you lot know that when I get the goss I SERIOUSLY get the goss. I'm the Parkie for The Cut generation. Err... Brace yourselves people, this is Billie's (aka Olive in The Cut) biggest secret!

See? Newsnight here I come.

If you think you can do better than me, then send in your most random and inventive questions or challenges for the cast and I'll get some answers... but they have to be seriously imaginative. Afterall, I wouldn't want to give my journalism career a bad reputation.

Vicki x

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The answer's in the video... drumroll please...

Yay! Let us know your questions before the end of day tomorrow...

Vicki x

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The cast prove to us why they really, really should be on TV while Wimbledon's on...

WARNING: You may want to watch this with your headphones plugged in, else you'll get a lot of weird looks. I found this out the hard way.

The question is though, who do you think has the best 'tennis grunt'?? Cast your votes now! For me, it's got to be Cam...

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Hellooo everyone!

Well, usually this is the time of week when we'd post up a list of all the music used in the latest episode of The Cut, but obviously that's not going to work as we're off air and offline for a few weeks (I know, I feel physically sick from being so Cut-deprived. Well, either that or it's due to large amount of fizzy sweets I just consumed).

Instead, we're turning the playlist over to you. If you were making The Cut, what music would you use?

Your suggestions can be as obscure or as mainstream as you like, and you never know, they might end up getting used on a future episode of The Cut!

Email your ideas to thecut@bbc.co.uk or pop them as a comment here and I'll be sure to pass them all on to the people that make the decisions. Because I'm nice like that.

Now, I swear I had a couple of sour apple chews left...

Vicki x

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Hellooo Cutlets,

Just a quick update from me to say:

A) HOW good was Alex's blog?? He's the first actor to blog, but he's certainly not gonna be the last.ÌýThis coming weekÌýwe'll have an exciting announcement about which cast member will be next to get their blog on!

B) It's been an epic week, despite there being no episodes of The Cut until 5th July due to Wimbledon (grrr).* If you haven't been on the blog, we've had a message (and a few outtakes) from the cast, a look at their favourite moments, exclusive footage of Elliott getting his legs shaved, a couple of never-seen-before photos... oh, and a blog from Alex Roe (who plays Elliott), of course! Phew.

C) It's going to continue to be epic. Think set tours, think exclusive cast blogs, think The Cut do Wimbledon... (really). Keep checking back here every weekday at 5:10pm for all this and plenty more.

D) Only two more weeks to go until The Cut returns! Yiippppeeeeeeee.

Vicki x

*I've tried to embrace Wimbledon, I really have. The other day I bought some strawberries, you know? They went mouldy the very next day. I think this speaks volumes.

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Hi everyone!

First actor's blog... No pressure...

I'm gonna start by thanking everyone who's watching and writing in for your support. If it wasn't for you guys, Series Two wouldn't have happened and Elliott Baden wouldn't exist!

All of the cast check the blogs when we can and all chat about what you guys have to say, so don't stop writing in :D

I can't believe they put the video up of my legs getting shaved! The shaving part wasn't too bad but my legs were so itchy afterwards! I don't know how you girls do it.

When I got the script and read the Speedo scene I honestly thought they were joking. It wasn't until I saw what looked like bikini bottoms and the electric shavers that reality hit me. All of that for 5 seconds of Elliott's embarrassment...

Anyway, enough about my chicken legs.

Vicki e-mailed me a few questions from you guys so I'll do my best to answer as many as I can.

Christi - "I always wonder if the kissing is majorly awkward, so that's my question - is having to do the romantic scenes and kissing awkward?"

Luckily Lara is really easy to act with, and gives me a lot to react off as Elliott. We have a laugh and get on well, so it's easy to snap in and out of our characters' romance without any awkwardness. It is weird to get used to a crew of people watching though... And once, the director didn't call cut on a kiss for about a minute!

MusicGirl320 - "What was your childhood dream job?"

Since I can remember, I've wanted to be a footballer or an actor but, as they are quite obvious ambitions, I asked my mum what I wanted to be when I was really young. She just told me that I used to try and fix everything. Apparently, I would walk around the house with my tools and if I couldn't find anything to fix I would take something apart and put it back together... Maybe I wanted to be a handy man, or maybe I just had no friends...

Katie - "Who is most like their character?"

Everyone has elements of their character in their own personality as we're all similar ages to our characters and can relate. I probably have the most in common with my character because I was quite serious about sport when I was at school -Ìýfootball rather than swimming, though.

Gary - "Do you know John from Leeds?"

No.

A few of you wanted to know who my best friend was out of the cast and it's a hard one. We all get along really well and I have a laugh with everyone. You tend to spend the most time with the people you're in the most scenes with so I've got to know Lara and Deborah quite well. We all just laugh at each other, mostly AT me.

I hope that answered most of your questions. I'm off to watch the England game.

Keep watching, and good luck with your exams!

Take it easy

Alex

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Well, some interesting suggestions yesterday as to what Elliott was doing in this video (George, I'm looking at you!), but I can reveal that...Bananalive was correct! Yay! Congrats.

Whilst I liked Patchwork's suggestion that Elliott was getting his legs shaved so that he'd look good in his speedos, the actual answerÌýis that in real life all the top swimmers shave their legs for speed in the water, so Elliott had to do likewise.

The only irony in the whole thing is that, in the original script, there was a line of dialouge where Cameron comments on how "Elliott shaves his legs"Ìý- but this line was actually cut from the final episode!

So really, if you think about it, you were unlikely to actually notice that Elliott's legs were in fact shaved when he was forced to walk through the school in his swimwear. Poor Alex (who plays Elliott), to think he went through all that... Although maybe he enjoyed the experience?!

Hopefully he'll tell us all about it tomorrow in his blog. Speaking of which, thanks for all your questions to him. Some really great ones, can't wait for his response...

Lastly, before I go, I've managed to dig out a couple of really sweet photos from a couple of episodes ago. I hope you enjoy them!

Vicki x

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Oh. My. BLOG.

Yep, that's right, Mr Alex Roe (aka Elliott in The Cut) will be the first cast member ever to write a blog for us! He'll be putting fingers to keyboards this coming Friday (18th June), so if there's anything you want to know about him or the other cast members, now's the time to ask.

Maybe you've always wondered whether the kiss with Marla was majorly awkward or if he really wears speedos when he goes swimming...

Email in your questions to thecut@bbc.co.uk or leave them as a comment here and we'll put the best ones to him. Let us know by 2pm tomorrow (Thursday) at the latest. And now, speaking of Elliott, here's a little exclusive clip of something that happened backstage at The Cut...

Any ideas what's happening here... and why??? The first person who gets it right will get an amazing prize.*

Vicki x

*The prize being an enormous sense of pride and achievement. What more could you ask for? Well, a holiday in Hawaii, I suppose. And a pony.

But no.

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Hellooo and happy Tuesday. To celebrate, err, this fine weekday (?) we've asked the cast to reveal their favourite moments from Series Two so far, plus they let us into a few little scene secrets you might not have noticed before...

But all this begs the question, what's been your favourite scene or moment so far?

Mine has to be from Week 18, when Cameron tries to get into the party and George goes 'Does your mum know you're out this late?' and Cameron replies through the letter box, 'Yeah she does actually. And she lent me a tenner!'

Vicki x

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The cast tell us about The Cut's three week break, plus we find out how good they really are at learning their lines... I seriously hope none of them see this video.

As Maisie (plays Frankie) says, a few of the cast will be trying their hand at blogging. But which ones? Well, that's up to you! If you want toÌýhear Marla's musings or Elliott's expressions, then let us know now (either on here or by emailing thecut@bbc.co.uk) and we'll see what we can do...

Vicki x

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- Fragile Wind

- Recluse

- Half Mast

- Cousins

Empire of the Sun - Swordfish Hotkiss Night

Santogold - My Superman

- Any Direction

Kassiidy - The Traveller

- She's Always A Woman

Santogold - Starstruck

- Look What You've Done

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Hellooo and happy 12th June!

I'm particularly happy thanks to this week's episode of The Cut which you can watch again on iPlayer here... hands up who saw that finale coming?? Aww.

Don't forget, you won't be able to catch the next episode of the cut for three weeks (more info here), but there's loads going on right here everyday, so get involved!

Lastly, in general Cut gossip, I just bumped into Lara (plays Marla) who has a LOT of sparkly, glitter make up on. I'm 78% sure she'd just been filming a big scene... although a little part of me wants to think she just goes around like that.

Vicki x

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Yep, it's that time of year again. Strawberries, cream, sweaty headbands and Sean Connery impressions.* Uh huh. It's Wimbledon! The tennis matches are taking over our tellyboxes until 3rd of July, meaning there'll be no episodes of The Cut on TV or online for three weeks.

Obviously I feel your pain, but there's no need to cause a RACQUET (ahem), cos on the plus side we get to see people in shorts making inappropriate grunting noises every Saturday... oh wait, that's not the plus side I was meant to write. The plus side is THIS:

That's right, there'll be backstage videos, blogs from the actors and exclusive never-seen-before photos. Plus, if you're lucky, a word or two on Series 3...

Stick with me Cutlets, cos it's going to be an amazing summer.

OAO,

Vicki x

PS. Don't forget to sign up to our for all the latest updates.

Ìý

* Q: What time does the well known Scottish actor Sean Connery go to Wimbledon? A: Hmmm, about Ten-ish.

(Tennish... Tennis... geddit?)

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Alex and Stephen's plans for Olive hit a snag when they discover they have a conflict of interest. No such problems for Elliott and Marla though. Is this the start of something special?

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Things get heated between Cameron and Frankie, and not in a good way. Things are also getting a bit warm between Olive and... Alex? That can't be good, can it?

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With the band auctioned off, their owners for the day get to have some fun. No one is having as much fun as Elliott and Marla though. Meanwhile, Stephen has some more murky dealings with Alex.

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Don't say I'm not good to you.

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In order to raise money, George places the band at the mercy of a student auction. What's the going price for a Frankie these days, anyway? How much???

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Elliott's playfulness reaches its peak, and he lays down an interesting challenge to Marla (just kiss already!). And while Stephen gets a frosty reception from Olive, the rest of the school is warming to Cameron 'The hero?!' Benedick.

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- One Week of Danger

- Red Eyes and Tears

- Bubbles

- Die by the Drop

- Banquet

-Counterpoint

-The Pretender

- Two Weeks (Fred Falke Extended Mix)

- Rambling Man

- Obsessions

- Get Ur Freak On

- Welcome to the Machine

- Sour Times

Synchronised Swimmers - Mastered

- You Overdid it Doll

- Black Balloon

The Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs

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Wow, what a week in The Cut! I was looking through my hands when youknowwho went to youknowwhere. And when whatshername threw a whaddyacallit in the whatsthenameofthatplaceagain I was like 'eep!'.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm guessing it's because you didn't see episode 22 of The Cut this week. 'Cos otherwise I'm sure you'd understand my well constructed high-brow code. Erm. Right?? Either way, you can (quite literally) get with the programme and watch the episode in full on iPlayer right now! Yesss.

Loads of you have been asking about Tommy, Rosa and Jay... and of course I want to give you answers, but I can't!! It's going to have to be a classic wait and see... The good news is though that I can reveal some things. Well, I don't actually know if I can. But I'm going to anyway. I'm a bit of a maverick like that...

1. In next week's episode, things hot up between a certain two characters. But which two?!!?

2. The writers are already working hard on series THREE of The Cut! Thanks to everyone for their amazing ideas.

3. Yesterday, Maisie and Wilf (Frankie and Cameron) spent the morning on set going through a scene which will happen in a few weeks time. The rumours are that it involves a lot of very intricate rehearsing... And a bit of loud music too... OHHHHHHHHHHH.

OAO

Vicki x

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Frankie's mission to find out if Jay is behind the string of attacks in the area leads her into grave danger, but if no one knows where she's gone then who'll be there to save her?

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Marla discovers what's really giving the party it's edge and Frankie decides to show everyone what she's really made of.

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Then the cast of The Cut have got a little message for you...

PS. Don't forget to like our if you want to be the first to hear about updates like these x

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The café party is hotting up, but it's not long before things take a sour turn... Meanwhile, Frankie digs a little deeper into the Jay Kelso/Loxley connection and Toni gets an unexpected blast from the past.

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It's parents' evening and Catherine's left in charge of locking up the café, but she's got other ideas. Meanwhile, Marla and Elliott's study evening doesn't quite go to plan... unless having a door slammed in his face was all part of Elliott's plan, of course.

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