News

“This isn’t ‘Twin Peaks,’ love.” “You’re like ‘Vera,’ boss.” “This is not ‘Broadchurch.’” BritBox’s new acquisition “Passenger” was obviously determined to stay one step ahead of critics, constantly namechecking the shows it has since inevitably drawn comparisons with. It could have referenced a dozen others, too. The dystopian conspiracies of “Black Mirror,” for example, or the supernatural mysteries of “Stranger Things.” Pop culture literates may also be reminded of everything from “The X Files” and “True Detective” to “Fargo” and even British rural soap opera “Emmerdale.”

In fact, actor Andrew Buchan has thrown everything but the kitchen sink into his screenwriting debut, also flitting between dysfunctional family drama, small-town social commentary, and broad workplace comedy. A cookie-cutter procedural this is not.

Glueing all the many disparate strands together is Riya Ajunwa (Wunmi Mosaku), a no-nonsense Northern cop whose job satisfaction levels are at an all-time low. “A cat with a cough?...

In the upcoming episode of “The Cleaner,” titled “The Lighthouse,” viewers can expect an intriguing mix of mystery and humor. This episode, airing on Friday, October 25, 2024, at 9:30 Pm on BBC One, takes Wicky to a remote lighthouse, a setting that promises to be both eerie and captivating. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that all is not what it seems at this isolated location.

Wicky’s journey is filled with unexpected challenges. From battling seagulls and jellyfish to encountering sea monsters, the episode is set to be an adventure like no other. The lighthouse, with its haunting atmosphere, adds to the suspense, making it a character in its own right. The quirky folk music that accompanies Wicky’s escapades adds a unique charm, blending humor with the tension of the unknown.

As Wicky navigates these bizarre obstacles, the episode raises the question of whether he will survive this strange encounter.

“Dark Matter” Renewed for Season 2

There are many more realities to explore within Apple TV’s “Dark Matter,” and the streamer has announced it’ll do just that following a Season 2 renewal of the critically acclaimed sci-fi series.

Based on the novel of the same name by bestselling author and showrunner Blake Crouch, “Dark Matter” follows Jason Dessen (played by Joel Edgerton), a physicist, professor, and family man who, one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago, is abducted into an alternate version of his life. As he tries to return to his reality “amid the mind-bending landscape of lives he could have lived,” he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true life and to his family to “save them from the most terrifying, unbeatable foe imaginable: himself.”

Watch the trailer for “Dark Matter” Season 1 below:

Jennifer Connelly stars opposite Edgerton, as well as Alice Braga,...

Netflix has another hit show in the works called “Adolescence.” This limited crime drama promises to be totally intense! The four-part series is being made by actor Stephen Graham and writer Jack Thorne. They started filming in Yorkshire, England last summer and it should come to Netflix in 2025.

“Adolescence” follows a family going through some major drama after their 13-year-old son gets charged with murdering a girl from his school. What makes this show different is how each episode will be filmed. The whole episode will play out in one continuous shot, like watching everything unfold in real-time. It kinda reminds me of the movie “Boiling Point” by Philip Barantini, who’s actually directing “Adolescence” too.

Stephen Graham leads a killer cast as the dad, Eddie Miller. Joining him are Ashley Walters as Detective Luke Bascombe and Erin Doherty as psychologist Briony Ariston, who’s helping with the case. Newcomer...

Philip Barantini’s four-part drama series Adolescence (working title) starring and co-created by Stephen Graham, with Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty, has begun filming in the UK for Netflix.

The series is about a family dealing with the aftermath after their 13-year-old son is charged with murdering a teenage girl. Each episode is filmed in one continuous shot and unfolds in real time.

Adolescence is produced by Warp Films, Graham’s Matriarch Productions and Plan B. Graham wrote and created the show alongside Bafta-winning writer Jack Thorne best known for The Swimmers, His Dark Materials and Enola Holmes.

Other cast...

A new series starring and co-created by Stephen Graham, under the working title Adolescence, has begun filming in the UK for Netflix.

The four-part drama is directed by Boiling Point creator Philip Barantini and also stars Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty.

The story centres on a family dealing with the aftermath after their 13-year-old son is charged with murdering a teenage girl. Each episode is filmed in one continuous shot and unfolds in real time.

Adolescence is produced by Warp Films, Graham’s Matriarch Productions and Plan B. Graham wrote and created the show alongside Bafta-winning writer Jack Thorne best known for The Swimmers,...

Stephen Graham (Boiling Point, Bodies), Ashley Walters (Top Boy) and Erin Doherty (The Crown) have joined the cast of Netflix’s real-time, one-shot crime drama, ‘Adolescence.’

Joining them in his first major role for television is Owen Cooper, alongside Faye Marsay (Game of Thrones), Christine Tremarco (The Responder), Mark Stanley (Happy Valley), Jo Hartley (After Life) and newcomer Amélie Pease. Warp Films, Matriarch Productions and Plan B for Netflix produce the series.

The four-part series tells the story of how a family’s world is turned upside down when 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) is arrested and charged with the murder of a teenage girl who goes to his school. Stephen Graham will play Jamie’s father and ‘appropriate adult’, Eddie Miller. Ashley Walters stars as Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe and Erin Doherty is Briony Ariston, the clinical psychologist assigned to Jamie’s case.

Also in news – Emilia Clarke, Gerard Butler...

Philip Barantini’s latest one-shot project Adolescence has just gone into production and will star Stephen Graham. More on the project below.

2021’s Boiling Point was a raving success for writer-director Philip Barantini. The film, shot all in one take, followed Stephen Graham’s hard-headed chef Andy on one of the busiest nights at his restaurant, Jones & Sons. The film, which ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, spawned a series which aired on BBC in late 2023.

Now, Barantini is moving away from Jones & Sons and into a new project, currently known as Adolescence, although that might change. Barantini is directing all four episodes of Adolescence for Netflix while Graham is credited as the creator and writer with Jack Thorne. The series has now gone into production and is filming in the UK.

The series reunites Barantini with Graham, but the pair are joined by a very starry cast.

"The sign posts are all there - whether we choose to see them or not." What is this strange black liquid in here? BritBox has debuted the first US teaser trailer for a British crime series titled Passenger, arriving for streaming in the US in October later this year. It first launched in the UK on ITV back in March - that's quite a long wait for it to arrive for streaming in the US but so be it. Wunmi Mosaku stars as the ambitious detective in this darkly comic and twisty crime drama. Strange crimes start happening in Chadder Vale, but who - or what is behind them? As a series of particularly odd happenings and increasingly shocking crimes start unfolding within the town, Riya fights hard to convince the local villagers that all is not as it seems. The series cast includes David Threlfall, Daniel Ryan, Jo Hartley,...

Welsh actor, writer and director Celyn Jones has set “Madfabulous” as his next directorial venture.

The British indie is based on the true story of Henry Cyril Paget, fifth Marquess of Anglesey, who was once one of the richest men in Britain but died penniless and forgotten at the age of 29 in France.

“It’s full of pathos and humanity, it’s very much a character who wants to get the attention of his family who don’t want him and he keeps upping the ante with his spending, his flamboyance and his dancing,” Jones told Variety about the 1890s-set film. “What happens if you are a theatrical, and you are very gender fluid at a time when when people didn’t even know what that was? And you’ve got all the money in the world to do that. Well, of course, you buy a theater company, you buy...

Margot Robbie and Rosamund Pike are among the nominees for the National Film Awards.The stars of 'Barbie' and 'Saltburn' respectively will compete against talent including Patricia Hodge ('Arthur's Whiskey'), Jo Hartley ('Swede Caroline'), Eiza Gonzalez ('The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare') and Emma Stone ('Poor Things)' in a star-studded Best Actress category.This year's ceremony is set to take place on July 3 at the Porchester Hall in London and marks the 10th anniversary of the prestigious awards. It will feature a lineup of nominees from around the globe consisting of seasoned acting veterans and emerging young talents.The Best Actor category is equally competitive with stars including Barry Keoghan ('Saltburn), Kevin Hart ('Lift') and Ewan McGregor ('Bleeding Love') competing for the prize with Kane Robinson ('The Kitchen') and Lakeith Stanfield ('Book of Clarence').Meanwhile,...

Zany caper follows Jo Hartley as a big-veg enthusiast defending her patch from elaborate ill-doings

Chaos reigns in this strange, funny and amiably anarchic mockumentary about dirty tricks in the cutthroat world of competitive marrow-growing, written and co-directed by film-maker Brook Driver. Maybe the script could have gone through another couple of drafts, but that might have removed some of the flavour. As it is, it feels like Thomas Pynchon had emailed Ricky Gervais an idea he’d had for a British comedy, and the result certainly has some laughs.

Jo Hartley (a stalwart of Shane Meadows’s movies Dead Man’s Shoes and This Is England) is Caroline, a marrow-grower and a divorcee who pretends her ex-husband is dead and is now in a kind of Nsa relationship with her needy neighbour Willy (Celyn Jones); they are both mates with conspiracy theorist and fanatically competitive prize-veg enthusiast Paul (Richard Lumsden...

Passenger is a comedically inclined, yet dark and supernatural drama series that manages to succeed on all levels – which is no mean feat. To mark its launch, beginning on ITV on March 24 – we had the pleasure in speaking to both its creator, and three of its leading stars. Below you can watch our full interview with Wunmi Mosaku, Jo Hartley, Arian Nik & Andrew Buchan, as we discuss the tonality of the series, their karaoke songs – and drinking tea.

Watch the full interview with Wunmi Mosaku, Jo Hartley, Arian Nik & Andrew Buchan here:

Synopsis

In the small Northern village of Chadder Vale, a close-knit community is sent spinning on its axis following a series of strange and unnatural crimes. After arriving there five years ago, Former Met Police Detective Riya Ajunwa has been searching for that ‘one big crime’, that one challenge that will make her feel alive again. Then one night local girl,...

Twin Peaks. Sunnydale. Castle Rock. Hawkins… America’s TV monopoly on small towns where Weird Stuff Happens has gone on for too long. Britain was once home to The Wicker Man, Children of the Stones and The Prisoner, all classics of the ‘something’s not right here’ genre. Isn’t it about time the UK put a few creepy burgs back on the map?

Actor and debut screenwriter Andrew Buchan must think so, and his answer is ITV’s Passenger – a six-episode mystery series that’s Happy Valley meets…well, no spoilers here. Comedic and sinister with a terrific cast led by Loki’s Wunmi Mosaku, Passenger, from the producers of Gangs of London and Chernobyl, is a top binge-watch that’ll keep you entertained and guessing – hopefully into a second series and beyond.

Mosaku plays Riya, a police detective who, years earlier, left her job at the Manchester Met...

Rob Delaney, Amit Shah and Dan Fogler have joined the cast for Netflix UK’s Bank Of Dave sequel.

The actors will appear alongside returning star Rory Kinnear who plays the real-life self-made millionaire who set up a community bank in Burnley, England. The sequel is set two years after its predecessor and follows Dave as he attempts to take on payday loan companies. Jo Hartley also reprises her role.

Delaney is best known for starring and co-creating the comedy-drama series Catastrophe as has appeared in the Deadpool franchise. Shah most recently appeared in Sundance thriller 7 Keys while US...

Actor Andrew Buchan makes his screenwriting debut with ITV thriller Passenger, and here’s the trailer.

Andrew Buchan is probably best known for playing grieving father Mark Latimer in Chris Chibnall’s whodunnit Broadchurch. He has also played the title role in drama The Fixer, as well as parts in films like Nowhere Boy, All The Money In The World and The Mercy.

He now makes his screenwriting debut with ITV thriller Passenger.

The synopsis reads as follows:

Riya (Loki star Wunmi Mosaku) arrived in the quiet town of Chadder Vale five years ago and has since been searching for something, anything that will make her feel alive again. Then one night local girl Katie Wells (Rowan Robinson) mysteriously disappears. The town barely has time to register her absence before she reappears the next day, apparently safe and sound. The townsfolk ask few questions and normal life resumes. But for Riya,...

"I can't believe you shot me!" Belstone Pictures, Picnik Ent., & Deadbeat Studios have revealed the official trailer for an indie comedy titled Swede Caroline, made by the filmmakers Finn Bruce & Brook Driver. This mockumentary about farming first premiered in 2022 at the Raindance Film Festival, and is getting a UK release in select theaters this April. The mock doc film explores the highly competitive and murky world of giant vegetable growing! As Caroline readies herself for the big championship with the help of her trusty partners Willy & Paul, she sets off in search of the truth. On the way enduring kidnappings, car chases and – worst of all – courgettes. But will the culprit(s) ever be caught? The film bounces from one quintessential British location to the next, as Caroline's quest leads her from allotments to service stations, by way of chip shops & the odd lay-by. Starring a bumper crop of acting talent including Jo Hartley,...

Jo Hartley and Rory Kinnear are back for Bank Of Dave 2, currently entitled Bank Of Dave: The Sequel. More here.

Released on Netflix early in 2023 was the very British tale, Bank Of Dave. Starring Rory Kinnear and Jo Hartley, it told the real-life story of a man called Dave (you might have guessed that), who set up a community bank to help small, local businesses (you could probably have guessed that too).

Set in Burnley, and with a good dose of Burnley Football Club included, Bank Of Dave was directed by Chris Foggins, and now he’s set to make a follow-up. Entitled Bank Of Dave: The Sequel, Foggins will once again be director, with Rory Kinnear and Jo Hartley reprising their roles.

This time, the foe of the piece will be payday loan companies, an easy to hate villain. New recruit to the ensemble Chrissy Metz will play an...

Exclusive: This Is Us lead Chrissy Metz has joined the cast of Bank of Dave: The Sequel, director Chris Foggins’ follow-up to his 2023 British feel-good comedy Bank of Dave, based on a true story.

Among those confirmed to return for the sequel, from the same creative team, are Rory Kinnear and Jo Hartley. Stay tuned for further castings to be announced imminently.

Hitting North American theaters last year via Samuel Goldwyn Films, Bank of Dave is inspired by the true story of Dave Fishwick (Kinnear), a self-made millionaire from the British town of Burnley. Pic chronicles the myriad challenges he faces in setting out to establish a community bank, with an eye toward bolstering small local businesses.

Picking up two years later, the sequel finds Dave taking on an even more dangerous and formidable opponent than the big banks — Payday Loan Companies. After recruiting Jessica (Metz), an American investigative reporter,...

Exclusive: Swede Caroline, a British mockumentary starring Jo Hartley (After Life) and Aisling Bea from Nicola Pearcey, formerly President, Lionsgate UK & Europe, and now CEO of Picnik Entertainment, has landed both a theatrical and digital release.

Belstone Pictures, Deadbeat Studios, and Pearcey’s Picnik Entertainment will jointly send the pic into cinemas on April 19, with Sky Cinema set to premiere the film later this year. The deal with Sky was closed by Finn Bruce of Belstone on behalf of the filmmakers and by Rachel Trawicki and Alexander Wright for Sky.

Swede Caroline is the debut feature of directing duo Brook Driver and Finn Bruce, who previously collaborated on SXSW Special Jury Prize-winning Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break. Swede Caroline was penned by Driver. The story is centered around the eccentric world of competitive vegetable growing. The plot follows Caroline as she readies herself for the big championship when the...

Neighbors – Universal Pictures

Merry Christmas! After a long year, Christmas is inches away. While unwrapping presents, eating Christmas dinner, or settling in for the evening with your loved ones, check out the best of the latest arrivals on Netflix this week.

If you missed any of the new titles added to Netflix this past week, check out our New on Netflix section for the complete list.

Here are the best new movies and TV shows added to Netflix this week;

Maestro (2023) N

Directed By: Bradley Cooper

Genre: Biopic, Drama | Runtime: 131 Minutes

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman

If there is one Netflix film threatening to sweep the Oscars at the next Academy Awards, it’s Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. It is a moving tribute to the relationship between beloved composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia, aided by the music beautifully composed from Bernstein’s...

Exclusive: Actor and filmmaker Celyn Jones, best known for his work on pics like The Almond And The Seahorse, Six Minutes to Midnight, and Chuck Chuck Baby, has signed with UK agency United Agents.

Jones has parted ways with 42Mp and signed with Lorna Fallowfield for acting and Jonny Jones for writing at United Agents.

Jones can most recently be seen in the feature Chuck Chuck Baby, directed by Janis Pugh for BFI and BBC Films, which debuted at the Edinburgh Film Festival and is set to play TIFF this month. 2022’s The Almond And The Seahorse, which Jones co-wrote, directed, produced, and starred in, has landed UK distribution and is set for an imminent release.

The UK-set film debuted at Zurich last September and was released in North America by IFC Films on 16 December. The pic stars Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg and follows an archaeologist and an architect...

"I told you they'd fight dirty." "We need to fight back." Samuel Goldwyn Films in the US has debuted their official trailer for this British feel good comedy titled Bank of Dave, which will finally be landing in the US this August. It first opened in the UK in January earlier this year. Based on the true-life experiences of Dave Fishwick; Bank of Dave tells the story of how a working class Burnley man and self-made millionaire fought to set up a small community bank. After working as a successful van salesman in the town, he gets involved lending to other locals which gives him the idea: Why not set up a tiny local bank that uses local money to fund local enterprise? He will call it: The Bank of Dave. The film stars Rory Kinnear (from Men and the Bond movies) as Dave, Joel Fry, Jo Hartley, Phoebe Dynevor,...

Shane Meadows is still in touch with the 'This Is England' cast.The 50-year-old director was at the helm of the 2006 drama film that was set in the 1980s and starred Thomas Turgoose as a troubled 12-year-old who joins a gang of skinheads and admitted that almost 20 years later, he has maintained a connection with the cast - which also included the likes of Stephen Graham, Jo Hartley, and Vicky McClure - that he hopes will last forever as he claimed that making a film is like being a kid on their school holiday. He told The Observer: "'This Is England’'s cast are a proper gang. They were kids when we made the first film. Now I’m going to their weddings and their kids’ christenings. The connection hasn’t faded. Hopefully it will last a lifetime. Films are like school holidays. Summer holidays are...

Exclusive: Samuel Goldwyn Films has locked down North American rights to the British feel-good comedy Bank of Dave, starring Joel Fry (Our Flag Means Death), Rory Kinnear (Men), Jo Hartley (After Life) and Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton). The film featuring music and performances by English rock band Def Leppard is slated for release in theaters and on digital platforms later this year.

Telling the true story of how a working-class man and self-made millionaire fought to set up a community bank, Bank of Dave follows Dave Fishwick (Kinnear), who sells vans in Burnley, Lancashire. Once the world’s most productive and profitable mill town, Burnley is now one of the most deprived and neglected towns in the UK. Dave, however, through a combination of hustle and hard work, has done well for himself — so well that in the wake of the last financial crisis, he started lending money at reduced rates...

Netflix viewers have piled praise on the streaming service’s new No 1 film, Bank of Dave.

Based on a true story, the uplifting British drama follows Burnley entrepreneur Dave Fishwick (Rory Kinnear) and his efforts to set up his own bank.

The film has risen above releases such as the Christian Bale-starring drama The Pale Blue Eye and the murder mystery sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery to claim the top spot on Netflix’s charts, as of Friday 20 January.

Hugh Bonneville plays a villain in the film, an upper-crust banker standing in the way of Dave’s attempts to create the community bank.

Jo Hartley, Joel Fry and Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor also star.

Bank of Dave features a number of cameos, including the real Fishwick, the rock band Def Leppard, and Burnley’s former football team manager Sean Dyche.

The film has received mixed reviews from critics,...

Theatrical release to come later this year.

Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Marley Morrison’s LGBTQ coming-of-age story Sweetheart, winner of the Glasgow Film Festival audience award and two British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) breakthrough prizes.

The film stars Nell Barlow as Aj, a young woman dreading a week on the Dorset coast with her family and boyfriend. When Aj lays eyes on the resident lifeguard Isla, her world changes. Jo Hartley, Sophia Di Martino, Samuel Anderson and Ella-Rae Smith round out the key cast.

Film Movement plans a theatrical release later this year followed by home...

Theatrical release to come later this year.

Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Marley Morrison’s LGBTQ coming-of-age story Sweetheart, winner of the Glasgow Film Festival audience award and two British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) breakthrough prizes.

The film stars Nell Barlow as Aj, a young woman dreading a week on the Dorset coast with her family and boyfriend. When Aj lays eyes on the resident lifeguard Isla, her world changes. Jo Hartley, Sophia Di Martino, Samuel Anderson and Ella-Rae Smith round out the key cast.

Film Movement plans a theatrical release later this year followed by home...

How do you say goodbye to one of the best shows on the air?

Fans of Netflix's After Life will be forced to say goodbye on January 14 when the final season launches.

The streamer has unveiled our biggest look yet at the final episodes, and it looks like Tony (Ricky Gervais) has a new outlook on life.

After spending the time following his wife's death thinking that not caring was a superpower, the trailer teases him making good decisions.

We get to see Tony on a very different mission, finding very specific places to scatter his late father's ashes.

One of those places is a bar, and well, that goes about as well as you can expect when he's caught.

Set in the small fictitious town of Tambury, the show follows Tony, a writer for the local newspaper whose life is upended after his wife dies from cancer.

Whilst...

Ricky Gervais is back for his third season of After Life, and brought a new trailer in advance of the series’ Jan. 14 renewal on Netflix.

Set in the small fictitious town of Tambury, the show follows Tony, a writer for the local newspaper whose life is upended after his wife dies from cancer. While still struggling with immense grief, Tony starts to realise that making other people feel good is what can give him hope and a reason to live. After all, every end is a new beginning.

The Netflix original series is by Derek Productions. The series is created, written, and directed by Gervais, who also serves with Duncan Hayes as executive producers.

Cast includes Penelope Wilton, Ashley Jensen (Extras), Tom Basden, Tony Way (Edge of Tomorrow), David Earl, Joe Wilkinson (Him and Her), Kerry Godliman...

The trailer for After Life‘s third and final season reveals that Tony Johnson is on a mission — to scatter his father’s ashes — and affirm along the way that “caring about stuff is what really matters.”

Starring series creator Ricky Gervais and set in the small, fictitious town of Tambury, Netflix’s After Life has followed Tony, a writer for a local paper, ever since his life was upended by his wife’s death from cancer. While struggling with that immense grief, Tony started to realize that making other people feel good is what can give him hope — and a reason to live.

Network: Netflix.

Episodes: 18 (half-hour).

Seasons: Three.

TV show dates: March 8, 2019 — January 14, 2022.

Series status: Ending.

Performers include: Ricky Gervais, Kerry Godliman, Tom Basden, Tony Way, David Bradley, Ashley Jensen, Penelope Wilton, David Earl, Joe Wilkinson, Mandeep Dhillon, Jo Hartley, Roisin Conaty, Tim Plester, and Diane Morgan.

TV show description:

From creator and star Ricky Gervais, the After Life TV show centers on the newly widowed Tony (Gervais). Once upon a time, Tony had a great life, but after the death of his wife, Lisa (Godliman), he decides to change up his approach to living.

After he considers committing suicide, Tony instead decides to live long enough to teach the world a...

One of Netflix's best shows will end in early 2022.

The streamer on Tuesday announced the third -- and final -- season of After Life will touch down on January 14.

Set in the small fictitious town of Tambury, the show follows Tony, a writer for the local newspaper whose life is upended after his wife dies from cancer.

Whilst still struggling with immense grief for his wife, Tony starts to realize that making other people feel good is what can give him hope and a reason to live.

After all, every end is a new beginning.

The series is a Netflix original series from Derek Productions.

It was created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais.

The cast includes Penelope Wilton, Ashley Jensen (Extras), Tom Basden, and Tony Way (Edge of Tomorrow).

The cast also includes David Earl, Joe Wilkinson (Him and Her), Kerry Godliman (Derek), Jo Hartley (In My Skin...

It’s our favourite night of the year! The 2021 BIFA awards took place this evening at Old Billingsgate in London. Hosted by People Just Do Nothing’s Asim Chaudhry, those attending include Emma Corrin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton, Jude Law, Harris Dickinson, Paapa Essiedu, Caitriona Balfe, Morfydd Clark, Riz Ahmed, Wumni Mosaku, Ruth Wilson, Stephen Graham and James Norton.

The 24th British Independent Film Awards saw Joanna Scanlan’s After Love take home a handful of awards, Clio Barnard’s Ali & Ava also did well – and there’s something wonderful in championing the very best in British Independent film – so, hey – we’re all winners here.*

David Sztypuljak and Scott Davis were our men at the event, asking questions.

You can see our interviews below, as well as a full list of tonight’s winners and nominees.

*Actual winners are below.

The 2021 BIFA Red Carpet Interviews

The...

’After Love’ wins best British independent film, plus actress and director prizes.

Aleem Khan’s feature directing debut After Love won six awards at this year’s British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), which took place tonight (December 5) in London.

Scroll down for full lst of winners

After Love won best British independent film, with Khan taking home three prizes: best director, best debut director and best screenplay. Khan was named a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2015 and his 2014 short Three Brothers received a Bafta nomination.

The film stars Joanna Scanlan, who also won best actress, as a Muslim woman who...

To mark the release of Sweetheart on 29th November, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD.

For Aj (Nell Barlow) planning a gap year trip to knit jumpers for elephants is much more appealing than spending a week with her family at a British Seaside Holiday Park. Yet, she finds herself on a four-hour car journey to the Dorset coast with her mum Tina and little sister Dayna. Met by older sister Lucy, and her boyfriend Steve, Aj expects this to be ‘a week of hell’. That is, until she lays her eyes on the resident lifeguard Isla (Ella-Rae Smith) and is instantly infatuated.

Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Small Print

Open to UK residents only The competition will close 6th December 2021 at 23.59 GMT The winner will be picked at random from entries received No cash alternative is...

Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” and Philip Barantini’s “Boiling Point” lead nominations at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), with 11 nods each.

Nominations for “Belfast,” Branagh’s autobiographical tale of life as a young boy in Belfast in 1969 in the midst of the Troubles, include best actress for Caitríona Balfe, best supporting actress for Judi Dench, best supporting actor for Ciarán Hinds and a breakthrough performance nomination for newcomer Jude Hill in addition to seven craft nominations.

Nominations for single take film “Boiling Point,” which follows an up-and-coming chef under extreme pressure, include best actor for Stephen Graham, best supporting actor for Ray Panthaki, best supporting actress for Vinette Robinson and a breakthrough performance nomination for Lauryn Ajufo.

Aleem Khan’s “After Love,” Prano Bailey-Bond’s “Censor” and Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part II” have nine nominations each, while Clio Barnard’s “Ali & Ava” has seven nominations, Sean Durkin...

Kenneth Branagh’s autobiographical drama Belfast and Philip Barantini’s single-take title Boiling Point both lead nominations for this year’s British Independent Film Awards with 11 nods a piece.

Belfast, which chronicles the tale of life as a young boy in the city in 1969 in the midst of the Troubles, earned a Best Actress nom for Caitríona Balfe, Best Supporting Actress nom for Judi Dench, Best Supporting Actor for Ciarán Hinds and a Breakthrough Performance nomination for newcomer Jude Hill. The title, which is being released in the U.S. by Focus Features on November 12, also earned seven craft nominations including Best Casting and Best Cinematography.

Boiling Point, which follows an up-and-coming chef under extreme pressure, scored a Best Actor nom for Stephen Graham, Best Supporting Actor for Ray Panthaki, Best Supporting Actress for Vinette Robinson and a Breakthrough Performance nomination for Lauryn Ajufo as well as a Breakthrough Producer nomination.

Further new titles include ‘The Sopranos’ prequel ‘The Many Saints Of Newark’.

Fourteen new titles are looking to make the most of the last session at the UK-Ireland box office before James Bond film No Time To Die dominates cinemas.

Independent titles such as The Green Knight, Sweetheart, Gagarine and The Man Who Sold His Skin are going up against Warner Bros’ The Many Saints Of Newark, in a truncated week for new titles.

No Time To Die opens on Thursday, September 30, with many cinemas screening the film from 00.01 BST. With projections from Gower Street Analytics that the film will...

Nell Barlow is the long-suffering gay teenager who falls for a lifeguard on holiday in Marley Morrison’s likably wistful debut

The holiday romance coming-of-ager is the genre that’s given writer-director Marley Morrison her likable feature debut. And if you thought Ammonite was going to be this year’s only gay love story set in Dorset, think again. Aj (Nell Barlow) is a smart, intense, socially difficult and lonely teen who wears a bucket hat and aviator shades, and whose overbearing mum Tina (Jo Hartley) still insists on calling her by her childhood name of “April”, unfortunately abbreviated to “Ape”. In a fiercely misjudged attempt to get Aj to cheer up and buck up, she insists on taking her on an old-fashioned family getaway to a holiday park in Dorset, along with her younger sister Dayna (Tabitha Byron), pregnant older sister Lucy (Sophia di Martino) and Lucy’s easygoing partner Steve (Samuel Anderson).

Grumpy,...

A bumper crop of actors and comedians has lined up for Swede Caroline, a newly-announced British mockumentary from Belstone Pictures and Deadbeat Films that is set to poke a comedic carrot at the world of competitive vegetable growers.

Jo Hartley — best known for such U.K TV shows as This is England, After Life and In My Skin and features such as David Brent: Life on the Road and Eddie the Eagle — will lead the comedy-drama as Caroline. A competitive giant vegetable grower readying herself for the big annual National Veg Championship, Caroline finds her life turned upside down when her prized marrow plants are stolen. She ...

A bumper crop of actors and comedians has lined up for Swede Caroline, a newly-announced British mockumentary from Belstone Pictures and Deadbeat Films that is set to poke a comedic carrot at the world of competitive vegetable growers.

Jo Hartley — best known for such U.K TV shows as This is England, After Life and In My Skin and features such as David Brent: Life on the Road and Eddie the Eagle — will lead the comedy-drama as Caroline. A competitive giant vegetable grower readying herself for the big annual National Veg Championship, Caroline finds her life turned upside down when her prized marrow plants are stolen. She ...

"Why can't I just do what I want to do?" Peccadillo Pictures has released the first official UK trailer for a British indie coming-of-age comedy called Sweetheart, not to be confused with the low key island monster horror also titled Sweetheart from recently. This British film premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival earlier this year, where it won the Audience Award, then it won Best First Feature at Inside Out Toronto. A socially awkward, environmentally conscious teen named Aj is dragged to a coastal holiday park by her painfully "normal" family, where she becomes unexpectedly captivated by a chlorine smelling, sun-loving lifeguard named Isla. Starring Nell Barlow as Aj, along with Jo Hartley, Ella-Rae Smith, Sophia Di Martino, Samuel Anderson, Tabitha Byron, and Steffan Cennydd. The film "captures the ups and downs of the quintessential British family holiday," which is usually amusing. This one looks like it might be quite good.

Peccadillo Pictures has launched a trailer for the upcoming comedy ‘Sweetheart.’

No 17-year-old dreams of spending a week with their family in a British Seaside Holiday Park. For socially conscious Aj (Nell Barlow) planning a gap year trip to knit jumpers for elephants is much more appealing. Yet, she finds herself on a four-hour car journey to the Dorset coast with her mum Tina and little sister Dayna. Her mum is determined to spend quality time with her little sweetheart before she flies the nest.

Joined by pregnant sister Lucy & her boyfriend Steve, Aj expects this to be ‘a week of hell’. That is until she lays her eyes on the resident lifeguard Isla (Ella-Rae Smith) who might just be the girl of her dreams.

Written and directed by Marley Morrison, the film is a coming-of-age comedy that captures the ups and downs of first love against the backdrop of the quintessential British family holiday.

Sun, sea, sand and the opportunity to spend time with the family. When you're 15, what could be worse? Aj (Nell Barlow) really doesn't want to go on holiday. She insists she'd be fine at home, and that seems believable enough, because she doesn't come across as someone who has friends to get in trouble with, but her mother (Jo Hartley) disagrees. To make matters worse, her mother has secretly emptied her suitcase and filled it with clothes that she thinks will help her look pretty and feel happy, meaning she has only one thing to wear that makes her feel like herself. Of course, if Aj complains, after they've crammed themselves into the caravan with her pregnant older sister and her pregnant older sister's boyfriend and her younger sister, she's the one who gets told that she's spoiling it for everyone.

There's not a lot of self-awareness to go round.

BAFTA has named the five contenders for its Rising Star award this year: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Conrad Khan, Bukky Bakray, Sope Dirisu, and Morfydd Clark.

Kingsley Ben-Adir starred in Regina’s King’s directorial debut film One Night in Miami as Malcolm X. His career started on the stage, in plays including Mark Rylance’s Much Ado About Nothing. He most recently starred opposite Zoe Kravitz in the Hulu series High Fidelity; played a co-lead role in the third series of the Brit Marling Netflix series The Oa; played Colonel Ben Younger in the BBC/Netflix drama Peaky Blinders; and starred in films The Commuter, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Trespass Against Us.

Conrad Khan is known for his role as Tyler in Henry Blake’s UK indie County Lines. He also appeared as a young Chris Hemsworth in The Huntsman: Winter’s War, and he has most recently been...

British actors Bukky Bakray, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Morfydd Clark, Sope Dirisu and Conrad Khan are the 2021 nominees for the BAFTA Ee Rising Star Award.

The nominees were announced by 2014 Rising Star nominee George MacKay (“1917”) and presenter Edith Bowman on Wednesday. The nominees participated in a panel discussion and spoke about their roles. Ben-Adir was there in person with the presenters, and the others virtually, with Clark dialling in from New Zealand where she’s filming Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings.”

Ben-Adir plays Black leader Malcolm X in “One Night in Miami,” based on the play by Kemp Powers, directed by Regina King. Bakray is the lead as a schoolgirl in Sarah Gavron’s coming-of-age drama “Rocks.” Clark plays a pious nurse in Rose Glass’ horror “Saint Maud,” while Dirisu is an emigrant house hunter who finds evil where he least expects it in Remi Weekes’ “His House.” In Henry Blake’s “County Lines,...

The Glasgow Film Festival has made great strides in building its own identity in recent years. The film Sweetheart, playing at the festival this year, is a perfect example of the type of gem which shines in the (virtual) Glaswegian sun and our man at the festival, Thomas Alexander, recently took time with the director and star of the film.

Directed by Marley Morrison, the film stars Nell Barlow, Ella-Rae Smith, Jo Hartley, Sophia Di Martino, and Samuel Anderson and is a painful and hilarious coming of age story set in Southern England.

Plot: 17-year-old Aj (Nell Barlow) is not one of life’s shiny, happy people. A family holiday at a caravan park in Dorset is her idea of hell. A moody misfit, she dresses for concealment and lets everyone know that she would rather be anywhere else. Then she spies flirty, free-spirited lifeguard Isla (Ella-Rae Smith) who might...

Yesterday, Academy Award® winner Alicia Vikander, actress Jo Hartley and BAFTA-winning actress Naomi Ackie joined the BAFTA Ee Rising Star Award panel to select the 2021 shortlist.

Now in its sixteenth year, it is the only 2021 Ee British Academy Film Awards category to be voted for by the British public. Celebrating new and up-and-coming talent within the industry, past recipients of the Ee Rising Star Award have gone on to become household names and achieve some of cinema’s highest accolades. The prestigious list of previous winners includes James McAvoy, Eva Green, Juno Temple, Tom Hardy, Kristen Stewart, Noel Clarke, Jack O’Connell, Will Poulter, John Boyega, Tom Holland, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright and last year’s winner Micheal Ward.

Alicia Vikander said: “Being a BAFTA Ee Rising Star nominee was a significant marker in my career and it is an honour and delight to deliberate the shortlist for this year’s...

As BAFTA prepares for its first Film Awards since concluding its sweeping diversity review last fall, the organization is rolling out “conscious voter” training ahead of its first round of voting.

Voting in round 1 begins Jan. 12 and closes Jan. 26, and will be followed by an inaugural longlist of all categories set to be published Feb. 4. The initiative forms part of a concerted drive towards a more transparent awards season.

BAFTA unveiled the results of its diversity review in September to encouragement from the industry, which welcomed many of the 120-plus changes. Among them was the aforementioned longlisting round across all categories that aims to level the playing field in acting and directing, in particular; an expansion of the outstanding British film category to 10 nominations; and the introduction of 1,000 new members from underrepresented groups.

BAFTA has received 258 film entries this year — just slightly under the 269 entries in 2020, which was a record year.