Netflix

Cast announced for Steven Moffat’s new drama Inside Man

David Tennant, Dolly Wells, Lydia West and Stanley Tucci (credit: BBC)

David Tennant (Des), Dolly Wells (Dracula), and Lydia West (It’s A Sin) will all star in the four-part series, alongside leading man Stanley Tucci (Spotlight) in the titular role.

Directed by Paul McGuigan (Sherlock), the gripping miniseries will follow the unexpectedly interconnected lives of a prisoner on death row in the States, a Vicar in a quiet English town and a maths teacher trapped in a cellar.

Tim Burton to direct Addams Family series for Netflix

(credit: Netflix)

The live-action series will chart Wednesday’s time at the eccentric Nevermore Academy as she comes of age.

Alongside dealing with all the small horrors of adolescence, Wednesday begins to master her burgeoning psychic powers. As a series of supernatural mysteries threaten the local town, Wednesday must put on her sleuthing hat to solve them, including one which also embroiled her parents 25 years ago.

The series will be written by the screenwriting duo Al Gough and Miles Millar (Into the Badlands).

Asa Butterfield and the Netflix effect

Asa Butterfield

“I don’t think any of us realised the scope that Netflix brings - being on the platform and being available around the world immediately for anyone to watch on their phone or their TV,” he told the RTS.   

“It’s insane. I’d worked in film where there’s a build up to the release date, but to have it all there at the touch of your fingers was quite surreal.   

The story of lace and lust in Shondaland's Bridgerton

Bridgerton (Credit: Netflix)

As television’s great disruptor, if Netflix is to take on a Regency period drama, expect it to try and reinvent the form. Enter Bridgerton, the streaming service’s Christmas big-hitter and a fresh take on the decades-old style.

For all the show’s traditional draws, such as the opulence of the debutante season, high-society scandal and growls of “I demand satisfaction”, a modern-­day sensibility has been smartly woven throughout.

'Out with the old thinking’: How PSBs are responding to the streamers success

Queer Eye, which ITV produces for Netflix (credit: Netflix)

At first glance, the outlook looks less than sunny for traditional broadcasters faced with competition from Netflix and the other streamers. Dig a little deeper and the situation looks a lot more nuanced.  

That was the main takeaway from the second of two Steve Hewlett Scholarship debates, “British broadcasting in crisis?”, organised jointly by the RTS and Media Society.  

Discovery+: The non-fiction Netflix?

Victory is not always achieved by the first out of the blocks or the fastest car into the opening corner. Sometimes, steadiness of purpose and coming from behind is more effective. That sums up the strategy that Discovery has adopted in the uber-competitive streaming wars.

Having watched Netflix, Amazon Prime and, more recently, Disney+ and others enter the global streaming market, Discovery+ will launch its own service in the US only in January. Some observers have argued that it might be too little, too late.