With a release date set for U.S Independence Day, the return of Stranger Things for season three is going to be a big event and one fans have been waiting a long time for.
Creators The Duffer Brothers have promised a darker, funnier series that will be worth the wait.
New four-part series, Famous and Fighting Crime, sees Jamie Laing (Made in Chelsea) Sandi Bogle (Gogglebox), presenter Katie Piper and comic Marcus Brigstocke working as volunteer police officers.
A coming-of-age sitcom written by Lisa McGee, Derry Girls aired back in January on Channel 4.
The three-month experiment returns for a second series, with a new host of frantic pre-schoolers integrating with senior citizens at a retirement village in Nottingham.
In February of this year, Netflix won its first Oscar and its first Bafta. Surprisingly, the awards were not for any of its high-profile drama series, but for two documentaries. The Academy Award went to The White Helmets, a film about a group of Syria Civil Defence volunteer rescue workers. The Bafta winner was 13th, Ava DuVernay’s film about race in the US criminal justice system.
New Amazon Prime series American Gods is based on the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name, starring Ricky Whittle (Hollyoaks) and Ian McShane (Game of Thrones).
Whittle plays Shadow Moon, a convict released early from prison after the death of his wife.
It’s rare for Yorkshire town Whitby to make the national press – unless, of course, there’s been a flood – but wherever Jeremy Clarkson goes, the world follows. Amazon’s impending launch of The Grand Tour is one of the most globally anticipated series of all time.
Jay Marine, vice-president of Amazon Prime Video Europe, says: “It is a huge TV moment, not only for us but for UK TV generally.”
Comedian Hugh Dennis aired the thoughts of many trying to navigate the new television landscape when he introduced this session. In a video diary shown to conference delegates, he was seen stuck inside a room for a month. His task was to watch all the content available to modern audiences.
“Watching telly used to be so easy,” he complained. “Four channels, maybe five – everyone watched the same thing in the same place at the same time, unless your family was at the cutting edge of technology and had a VCR.”
Last month the release date of the new show, which will be available on subscription service Amazon Prime, was confirmed as 18 November.
Although the much-publicised ‘steak-gate’ incident led to the end of the Clarkson, Hammond and May era of the show, the end had been looming, Wilman suggested.
“We were collapsing under the weight of the work we were doing,” he added.
Appearing at the festival to promote the team’s new Amazon Prime show The Grand Tour, Wilman would not be drawn on how much the company had paid for the series. “It’s a good whack,” he conceded, but denied that it was as much as the rumoured £4 million per episode.
