At the beginning of August, Reese Witherspoon sold her company, Hello Sunshine. Even in a world where film-stars-turned-brands have become 10 a penny, the Oscar winner made international headlines thanks to the jaw-dropping sale price – reportedly $900m. Witherspoon said she was “thrilled to be working with Blackstone, Kevin, and Tom to grow a next-generation media company”.
Staunton will take over the role from Olivia Colman, with the fifth series expected to cover the monarch’s reign in the 1990s and early 2000s, including the divorce of Prince Charles from Princess Diana and the death of the princess in 1997.
The role of Prince Phillip will pass from Tobias Menzies (This Way Up) to Jonathan Pryce (Game of Thrones), while Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager) will take on the role of Princess Diana from Emma Corrin.
When Team GB hit an all-time low at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, finishing 36th in the league of nations, the governing bodies launched an ambitious project to transform British sport.
The much-loved comedy series is back once again, following the sexual exploits and general mishaps of the students at Moordale High.
The second series saw Otis (Asa Butterfield) and Maeve’s (Emma Mackey) illicit sex clinic discovered by Otis’ sex therapist mother Jean (Gillian Anderson).
Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) was caught in a love triangle with new student Rahim (Sami Outalbali) and former school bully Adam (Connor Swindells), who was learning to make peace with his sexuality.
As one of the first comedians to tour the world since lockdown began, Russell Howard invites the cameras to follow along for a three-part documentary.
Created by Canadian comedian Mae Martin, the hilarious, warm and deeply personal comedy-drama sees Martin play a fictionalised version of themself: a bi-sexual stand-up navigating a new relationship with their straight girlfriend George, played by Charlotte Ritchie (Ghosts), while trying to keep their addictive impulses at bay.
The programme will support six screenwriters from Black, Asian and other racial and ethnic backgrounds by employing them in a Netflix or Sky writers’ room for their first television credit.
Fellows will also receive a bursary and an industry mentor while attending monthly development events and workshops.
K Ali said: “I am thrilled to be working alongside Netflix and Sky to launch our new Screenwriting Fellowship.
The RTS Award-winning duo Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton bring back their delightfully twisted anthology for another series of horror, comedy, drama, and everything in between.
On the day before Netflix released the first series of Sex Education, Jamie Campbell, creative director of the producer, Eleven Film, recommended the series to his friend’s 18-year-old daughter. As a high-school drama about the sexual misadventures of teenagers, Campbell assumed Sex Education would resonate with her. She agreed to call the next day to share her thoughts, but when she did, she said she hadn’t watched it.
After years of refusal by the global streaming companies to share their viewing data, new light will soon be shed on the performance of Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ – and PSB streaming services such as All 4 and BBC iPlayer – by the industry ratings body Barb.
From the late summer, Barb expects to publish regular viewing figures for SVoD services on the same basis as those for broadcast television. This will allow meaningful comparisons to be made for the first time.
