History Main / PageThreeStunna

A UsefulNotes/{{British newspaper|s}} trope, basically involving the gratuitous placing of pictures of semi-naked people in a newspaper. Of course, when we say "people" we really mean "[[AlwaysFemale young attractive women]]." (''The Sun'' briefly had a Page Seven Fella in TheEighties, but it didn't last.)

European tabloid papers are sometimes even less reserved, sticking said women on their front pages. The Hungarian ''Blikk'' has ''every single issue'' containing a well-endowed and [[NippleAndDimed completely topless]] shot right on the front page.

It also has to be said that "aftercare" to former models is not good. Jane Warner graced the third page for thirteen years, between ages 16 and 29. This is a long shelf-life for a glamour model. Jane was exceptionally attractive, but it is pretty much universal that there are ''no'' thirty-year old Page Three Stunnas - currently, Lucy Pinder is a notable aversion; aged 33, she is considered to be the UK's most popular glamour model, although she has not appeared in the ''Daily Star'' since 2009 as a result of editorial policy turning against girls with large breasts (yeah, work that one out) and is currently transitioning into an acting career. Deprived of publicity and all the frills and lucrative personal appearances that come with being a Page Three regular, as well as losing the fanbase she had come to accept as her right, Jane Warner descended into seedier "private shots" sessions that grew cheaper and more desperate, and then into outright prostitution and a drug habit. Like a footballer who is too old to stay at the top, she didn't know how to cope with the inevitable descent from fame. ''The Sun'', the newspaper that had made her fame, might at least have paid for counseling or rehab, but did nothing more than to treat her court appearances, imprisonment and mental illness as a handy source of stories. Old stunnas are left to sink or swim...

->''"''Sun'' readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits."''
-->-- ''Series/YesMinister''

''The Sun'' is not alone in this, although other papers do it with celebrities posing for magazines and revealing ''slightly'' less. Even middle-class tabloid ''The Daily Mail'' has ''twice'' done double-page spreads on naked female student calendars, and several other tenuous reasons such as a drop in the share price of a clothes retailer. It also did a spread on boots with the model wearing just boots. Nothing was exposed, and the Daily Mail is 'lower middle class' at best, but still... Perhaps the most notorious paper these days is the ''Daily Sport'' (published three days a week under slightly different titles) which generally has at least one pair of boobs on every page, and publishes a "nipple count" in each issue. Mind you, whether the ''Sport'' - which is notorious for ''everything'' it publishes being a total fabrication; its headline about a B52 bomber being found on the Moon is still famous decades after it was printed - actually counts as a newspaper is open for debate.

* ''Whatever It Takes'' is an average {{ITV}} one-off drama about a trainee police officer who gets caught having sex with a footballer and becomes one of these, suffering the full effects of celebrity. She is "replaced" by another one, oddly enough played by an actress who had been in ''Series/WaterlooRoad''.

* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', while ostensibly an American program, was actually filmed in the UK and includes a subtle reference to this in the George Burns episode. As part of an "ambush interview", gossip columnist Fleet Scribbler mentions to Miss Piggy that his paper was thinking of doing a photo spread of her, "[[FanDisservice Something for Page 3]]". Needless to say, that joke was probably lost on the American audience.

It also has to be said that "aftercare" to former models is not good. Jane Warner graced the third page for thirteen years, between ages 16 and 29. This is a long shelf-life for a glamour model. Jane was exceptionally attractive, but it is pretty much universal that there are ''no'' thirty-year old Page Three Stunnas - currently, Lucy Pinder is a notable aversion; aged 31, she is considered to be the UK's most popular glamour model, although she has not appeared in the ''Daily Star'' since 2009 as a result of editorial policy turning against girls with large breasts (yeah, work that one out). Deprived of publicity and all the frills and lucrative personal appearances that come with being a Page Three regular, as well as losing the fanbase she had come to accept as her right, Jane Warner descended into seedier "private shots" sessions that grew cheaper and more desperate, and then into outright prostitution and a drug habit. Like a footballer who is too old to stay at the top, she didn't know how to cope with the inevitable descent from fame. ''The Sun'', the newspaper that had made her fame, might at least have paid for counseling or rehab, but did nothing more than to treat her court appearances, imprisonment and mental illness as a handy source of stories. Old stunnas are left to sink or swim...

The few American tabloids that do this have only bikini girls, tops firmly in place. This is for two reasons: the MoralGuardians are stronger in the United States than in Europe, and American tabloids are chiefly aimed at middle-aged housewives, who often count themselves among said MoralGuardians. (Canadian tabloids also must limit themselves to bikini-clad women.[[note]]Canadian tabloids also have ''male'' Page Three Stunnas, although a bit further on in the paper.[[/note]]) For these reasons, the publications that do feature skin are almost always [[PublicExposure men's magazines]] like ''Maxim'' and ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}''. Some of the more famous American glamour models (or "pinup girls"), past and present, include Carmen Electra, Pamela Anderson, and Kate Upton, as well as many Victoria's Secret models. During WorldWarII, glamour models played a heavy role in wartime propaganda, with sexy pictures being distributed to [=GIs=] to... [[ADateWithRosiePalms relieve tension]].

* From the ''[[YesMinister Yes Prime Minister]]'' episode "A Conflict of Interest":

A {{British newspaper|s}} trope, basically involving the gratuitous placing of pictures of semi-naked people in a newspaper. Of course, when we say "people" we really mean "[[AlwaysFemale young attractive women]]." (''The Sun'' briefly had a Page Seven Fella in TheEighties, but it didn't last.)

* It's warm -- so warm that she's topless to beat the heat!

* It's warm -- she's so happy, she's topless!

* ''VideoGame/RockStarAteMyHamster'' has ''The Stun'', whose in-game representation pictures a topless girl on the front page when the top story isn't about a rock star.

The most famous (or infamous) example is ''The Sun'' and its "Page Three Girls", one of whom poses topless on the third page of each day's issue (unless something big and tragic has happened In which case she is pushed back to Page five. Or to Page Seven, if it's a REALLY big newsworthy catastrophe.). There's some quote from them on an issue of the day -- in which, by extraordinary coincidence, they invariably agree with the ''Sun'''s right-wing editorial stance. Some of the "models" used to be as young as 16 until the law was changed.

* One appears in ''WaterlooRoad'' as a former pupil of the school.
* ''Whatever It Takes'' is an average {{ITV}} one-off drama about a trainee police officer who gets caught having sex with a footballer and becomes one of these, suffering the full effects of celebrity. She is "replaced" by another one, oddly enough played by an actress who had been in ''WaterlooRoad''.

** Also referenced in an episode where Hacker's daughter is threatening a nude protest over endangered wildlife. He laments that the stunt will get her onto the front page of the paper � "and probably page three as well".

* In ''TheVicarOfDibley'', Owen photographs Brenda the barmaid as one for the village newsletter. She's 65. ExaggeratedTrope as he also includes a "Page 4 girl" (her mother) and a "Page 5 girl" (her aunt's mother, who has recently ''died'').

The most famous (or infamous) PageThreeStunna is Jordan, aka Katie Price, former-other half of Peter Andre. She was "retired" from Page Three after she got breast implants (which ''The Sun'' doesn't allow). A famous early one was Samantha Fox, who later came out as a lesbian (she sang a bit too). Another well-known former PageThreeStunna is Marina Baker (who these days often goes under her married name of Marina Pepper), a former Playboy Playmate turned journalist, author (of several books on white magic -- she's a practicing Wiccan), environmental activist and local politician (in the suburbs of Brighton, England). Oh yeah, and back in her Playmate days, she had an affair with Creator/DanielCraig. ''Series/CoronationStreet'' graduate and professional MsFanservice Helen Flanagan posed for Page Three in September 2013.

But the PageThreeStunna could well be a thing of the past - the Irish edition of ''The Sun'' got rid of them in 2013 (though, they've been replaced by stories about whichever MsFanservice is in the news at the moment. The basic difference is that they're not showing bare breasts) and the UK edition followed suit in 2015. It continues online, however.

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** Also referenced in an episode where Hacker's daughter is threatening a nude protest over endangered wildlife. He laments that the stunt will get her onto the front page of the paper — "and probably page three as well".

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''The Sun'' also ran a competition called ''Page 3 Idol'', with results humourous (one of the winners had the name Lacey Banghard) and tragic (2007 winner Jenny Grant committed suicide).

But the PageThreeStunna could well be a thing of the past - the Irish edition of ''The Sun'' got rid of them in 2013 (though, they've been replaced by stories about whichever MsFanservice is in the news at the moment. The basic difference is that they're not showing bare breasts) and the UK edition followed suit in 2015.

''The Sun'' will often include a comment (ostensibly) from the model in question about some topical story, under the heading "News in Briefs". Recently these have moved away from [[{{QI}} Alan Davies]]'s "Jenny from Exeter thinks that war is bad" to [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2010/05/paper_monitor_937.shtml the frankly absurd]] -- it long ago became a RunningGag that the pieces obviously weren't the models' own opinions, and they're often SophisticatedAsHell (clashing with the paper's usual house style) for comic effect.

The most famous (or infamous) PageThreeStunna is Jordan, aka Katie Price, former-other half of Peter Andre. She was "retired" from Page Three after she got breast implants (which ''The Sun'' doesn't allow). A famous early one was Samantha Fox, who later came out as a lesbian (she sang a bit too). Another well-known former PageThreeStunna is Marina Baker (who these days often goes under her married name of Marina Pepper), a former Playboy Playmate turned journalist, author (of several books on white magic -- she's a practicing Wiccan), environmental activist and local politican (in the suburbs of Brighton, England). Oh yeah, and back in her Playmate days, she had an affair with Creator/DanielCraig. ''CoronationStreet'' graduate and professional MsFanservice Helen Flanagan posed for Page Three in September 2013.

''The Sun'' will often include a comment (ostensibly) from the model in question about some topical story, under the heading "News in Briefs". Recently these have moved away from [[{{QI}} Alan Davies]]'s "Jenny from Exeter thinks that war is bad" to [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2010/05/paper_monitor_937.shtml the frankly absurd]] -- it long ago became a RunningGag that the pieces obviously weren't the models' own opinions, and they're often SophisticatedAsHell (clashing with the paper's usual ViewersAreMorons house style) for comic effect.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpMCG5Mxos0 This song]] from ''Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie''.

The most famous (or infamous) example is ''The Sun'' and its "Page Three Girls", one of whom poses topless on the third page of each day's issue (unless something big and tragic has happened). There's some quote from them on an issue of the day -- in which, by extraordinary coincidence, they invariably agree with the ''Sun'''s right-wing editorial stance. Some of the "models" used to be as young as 16 until the law was changed.

-->-- ''[[Series/ Yes, Prime Minister]]''