Squid Game: The Challenge

Wednesday

Netflix

If the original 2021 dystopian drama wasn’t enough for you, good news: now it’s real. Well, sort of.

The three hour-long programmes will air on BBC One on 25 November, 2 December and 9 December, respectively, and will also be available on iPlayer. The episode titles have previously been revealed as ‘The Star Beast’, ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ and ‘The Giggle’.

After ‘The Star Beast’ airs, 30-minute behind-the-scenes programme Doctor Who: Unleashed will be broadcast on BBC Three, and will also be available on iPlayer. Doctor Who Confidential aired from 2005-11, and provided a similar peak behind the curtain of the show’s production.

Fresh from the second series of Good Omens, David Tennant will be returning to Doctor Who after a decade away from the role.

Also returning under Russell T. Davis’ new management is Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, with Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney joining the cast as Donna’s daughter, Rose. Doctor Who’s official Instagram page revealed this long-speculated news with the caption: “When we last saw Donna, the Doctor had to wipe her memory. So the question is, what happens when Rose meets one of her mum’s oldest friends?”

“Mine,” he replies. And so begins the dramatisation of one of the most politically charged murder investigations in Metropolitan Police history.

Litvinenko, a former Russian Federal Security Service and KGB officer, was poisoned with Polonium-210 in London in 2006. Knowing that he would die, he was able to deliver the details of who was behind his murder to the police. But it took more than a decade for his claims to be confirmed.

David Tennant and Catherine Tate will return to their well-loved roles for the first time since the Doctor and Donna parted ways in ‘Journey’s End’ in 2008, when the Doctor had to wipe Donna’s memory in order to save her life. With the Doctor leaving Donna’s family with the stark warning that if she were ever to remember him, she would die, the question arises as to what brings the pair back together?

The four-part miniseries will follow the unexpectedly intersecting paths of a prisoner on death row in the US, a Vicar in a quiet English town, and a maths teacher trapped in a cellar.

Leading the star-studded cast will be David Tennant (Des), Dolly Wells (The Pursuit of Love) and Lydia West (It’s A Sin) alongside Stanley Tucci (Feud) in the titular role of the Inside Man.

Written by George Kay, the four-part drama will explore the death of former Russian Federal Security Services and KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who was found dead from polonium poisoning in November 2006. 

The murder led to one of the most dangerous and testing investigations in the history of the Metropolitan Police.  

The drama highlights the painstaking work of the Scotland Yard officers who dedicated ten years of their lives to discover who was responsible.

The Jules Verne adaptation features David Tennant as fearless explorer Phileas Fogg, Ibrahim Korma as the changeable Passepartout and Leonie Benesch as young journalist Abigail ‘Fix’ Fortescue. 

After getting involved in a ludicrous bet, Fogg and his valet Passepartout take on the challenge of circumnavigating the world in just 80 days.

They are soon joined by aspiring journalist Abigail Fix, who sees the adventure as a chance to write about the extraordinary story.