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Netflix has launched a full official trailer for the Keira Knightley-led series ‘Black Doves.’

Set against the backdrop of London at Christmas, the series is a sharp, action-filled, and heartfelt story of friendship and sacrifice. It follows Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), a quick-witted, down-to-earth, dedicated wife and mother — and professional spy.

For 10 years, she’s been passing on her politician husband’s secrets to the shadowy organisation she works for: the Black Doves. When her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Sarah Lancashire), calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Ben Whishaw) to keep her safe. Together, Helen and Sam set off on a mission to investigate who killed Jason and why, leading them to uncover a vast, interconnected conspiracy linking the murky London underworld to a looming geopolitical crisis.

Coming from writer/creator Joe Barton, the series stars Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw,...

Netflix is building buzz for its spy thriller series Black Doves starring Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw.

The streamer has unveiled trailer and a slew of images promoting the show from Joe Barton, while revealing a premiere date of December 5.

Black Doves, which also stars Sarah Lancashire, is set against the backdrop of London at Christmas. It follows Helen Webb (Knightley), a quick-witted, down-to-earth, dedicated wife and mother — and professional spy. For 10 years, she’s been passing on her politician husband’s secrets to the shadowy organization she works for: the Black Doves. When her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Lancashire), calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Whishaw) to keep her safe.

Andrew Buchan (Carnival Row), Adeel Akhtar (Fool Me Once), Tracey Ullman (The Tracey Ullman Show), Finn Bennett (True Detective: Night Country) and Luther Ford (The Crown), Koji (Warrior), Kathryn Hunter, Sam Troughton, Ella Lily Hyland, Adam Silver Ken Nwosu (Look the Other Way and Run), Gabrielle Creevy and Omari Douglas also star.

The show is the latest splashy offering from Netflix UK, which has made a slew of hits this year including Baby Reindeer and The Gentlemen. It is being co-produced by Sister, which has just seen its previous Netflix show, Kaos, axed after one season. Barton’s outfit Noisy Bear is co-producing.

EPs for Black Doves are Knightley, Barton, Jane Featherstone and Chris Fry. Directors are Alex Gabassi (The Crown) and Lisa Gunning (The Power). Series producer is Harry Munday.

Netflix has revealed the official trailer and key art for the spy thriller Black Doves, which will premiere globally on December 5, 2024. The streaming service previously confirmed that the series will return for a second season.

The trailer features new music from award-winning British singer Raye, who has recorded a cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” This song will be featured throughout the first season of Black Doves.

Set against the backdrop of London at Christmas, Black Doves is a sharp, action-filled, and heartfelt story of friendship and sacrifice. It follows Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), a quick-witted, down-to-earth, dedicated wife and mother — and professional spy.

For 10 years, she’s been passing on her politician husband’s secrets to the shadowy organization she works for: the Black Doves.

When her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Sarah Lancashire), calls in...

The United States’ leadership in scripted series production is fading, according to scripted execs speaking at theSouth International Series Festival in Cadiz, Spain.

Xavier Marchand, founder and CEO of UK-based producer Moon River and a former president of production at eOne Features, cited Netflix’s most recently published viewership data for the first half of 2024 which was led by British-shot titles Fool Me Once, Baby Reindeer, Bridgerton and The Gentlemen.

“What Netflix has done really well is taking local TV shows and local stories and making them accessible to global audience,” said Marchand. “For us producers in Europe, it’s...

Netflix has debuted a set of first-look images alongside a premiere date of the 5th of December for the Keira Knightley-led series ‘Black Doves.’

Set against the backdrop of London at Christmas, the series is a sharp, action-filled, and heartfelt story of friendship and sacrifice. It follows Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), a quick-witted, down-to-earth, dedicated wife and mother — and professional spy.

For 10 years, she’s been passing on her politician husband’s secrets to the shadowy organisation she works for: the Black Doves. When her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Sarah Lancashire), calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Ben Whishaw) to keep her safe. Together, Helen and Sam set off on a mission to investigate who killed Jason and why, leading them to uncover a vast, interconnected conspiracy linking the murky London underworld to a looming geopolitical crisis.

Coming from writer/creator Joe Barton,...

Ben Whishaw and Keira Knightley in ‘Black Doves’ (Photo Credit: Netflix/Ludovic Robert)

Netflix is showing off the first batch of photos from Black Doves. The streamer also confirmed the six-episode holiday-themed spy thriller will premiere on December 5, 2024, and has already been renewed for a second season.

Keira Knightley (Official Secrets), Ben Whishaw (Fargo), and Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley) lead a cast that includes Andrew Buchan (Carnival Row), Adeel Akhtar (Fool Me Once), Tracey Ullman (The Mandalorian), and Finn Bennett (True Detective: Night Country). Luther Ford (The Crown), Andrew Koji (Warrior), Kathryn Hunter (Andor), Sam Troughton (Chernobyl), Ella Lily Hyland (Fifteen Love), Adam Silver (Masters of The Air), Ken Nwosu (Look the Other Way and Run), Gabrielle Creevy (Three Women), and Omari Douglas (Rye Lane) also star.

“Set against the backdrop of London at Christmas, Black Doves is a sharp, action-filled, and heartfelt story of friendship and sacrifice. It follows Helen Webb (Knightley), a quick-witted,...

Playing both sides when you’re a spy is a dangerous game. You must keep your lies straight if you hope to survive, and knowing who to trust is a constant struggle. People you coordinate missions with say they have your best interests and protection in mind, but do they? Who’s to say they won’t throw you to wolves to save their skin when everything goes south? Keira Knightley will find out who has her back and who wants her dead in the upcoming spy thriller series Black Doves, premiering globally on Netflix on December 5, 2024.

Here’s the official logline for Black Doves courtesy of Netflix:

Set against the backdrop of London at Christmas, Black Doves is a sharp, action-filled, and heartfelt story of friendship and sacrifice. It follows Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), a quick-witted, down-to-earth, dedicated wife and mother — and professional spy. For ten years, she’s...

Netflix has announced the premiere date for the spy thriller Black Doves alongside a first look at the series starring Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, and Sarah Lancashire.

Black Doves Season 1 will premiere globally on Netflix on December 5, 2024. The streaming service has already confirmed that the series will return for a second season.

Set against the backdrop of London at Christmas, Black Doves is a sharp, action-filled, and heartfelt story of friendship and sacrifice. It follows Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), a quick-witted, down-to-earth, dedicated wife and mother — and professional spy.

For 10 years, she’s been passing on her politician husband’s secrets to the shadowy organization she works for: the Black Doves.

When her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Sarah Lancashire), calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Ben Whishaw) to keep her safe.

Together, Helen and Sam set off on a mission to...

Netflix UK’s profits leapt by three-quarters last year with the streamer registering a post-tax figure of £46.5m, according to its latest financial accounts.

The figure was up 74% from 2022’s £26.7m post-tax operating profit. The company also saw pre-tax figures rising 70% from £31.6m to £53.7m.

Netflix’s profit was able to weather its tax bill, which almost doubled from the £7.5m paid in 2022 to the £14.2m shelled out in 2023.

In a Companies House filing from its main UK entity, Netflix Services UK, the SVoD major reported an 8% revenue increase in 2023, reaching £1.7bn compared with £1.5bn in 2022. The increase was less...

Netflix saw profits shoot up in the UK last year while its tax bill doubled.

The streamer, which for just the third year was publishing revenue from UK subscribers via its Netflix Services UK subsidiary, saw operating profit rise by 70%, or £22M ($28M), to £53.7M ($70M). Of equally good news for the SVoD, Netflix’s “member base” aka subscribers rose by 7%, double the increase on the previous year, while there was a rise in the “average number of paid memberships and an increase in average monthly revenue per paying membership,” according to the Companies House filing.

The filing doesn’t give away subs numbers but ratings body Barb’s latest report from Q2 reported that Netflix was in 17.1 million UK homes, up by about 400,000 from Q1.

The results pertain to a year in which Netflix released big UK hits including the final seasons of The Crown and Top Boy, and the Beckham documentary.

Netflix has bucked the TV industry contraction to post record U.K. revenues of £1.7 billion ($2.2 billion) according to its latest company accounts.

They show that Netflix Services U.K., a Netflix Inc subsidiary responsible for providing its streaming service within the U.K., increased its revenues by 8%. That’s a lower jump than in 2022 (where revenues where 12% higher than the previous year) but still represents a record figure for the company. In 2022 revenues amounted to £1.5 billion.

The vast proportion of that money is made up from streaming revenue (£1.6 billion in 2023) with a trickle (just over £35 million) also coming from services rendered to parent company Netflix U.K. and its Amsterdam-based sister company Netflix International B.V.

According to the financial report, which was filed this week at the U.K. business registrar Companies House, the revenue increase is “due to a larger member base… and increase in revenue per paying membership.

The hit Paramount Network series Yellowstone will soon be coming to an end, and while Kelly Reilly is expected to reprise the role of Beth Dutton on the follow-up series that’s now going by the title The Madison, she’s also making some time to star in the Sky Original crime thriller series Under Salt Marsh, which is expected to start filming later this year. Today, The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Reilly is being joined in the cast by Rafe Spall (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Jonathan Pryce (Tomorrow Never Dies), Naomi Yang (Nightsleeper), Harry Lawtey (Joker: Folie à Deux), Dinita Gohil (Sandman), Brian Gleeson (Phantom Thread), Kimberley Nixon (Fresh Meat), Mark Stanley (Happy Valley), Dino Fetscher (Fool Me Once), Lizzie Annis (The Witcher: Blood Origin), Rhodri Meilir (Tree on a Hill), and Julian Lewis Jones (House of the Dragon).

Written, created, and executive produced by Claire Oakley...

On Wednesday it was announced that Reese Witherspoon is writing her debut novel, and now she’s shedding a little light on her journey to becoming a published author.

The star is penning a suspense novel with bestselling author and TV creator Harlan Coben, based on her original idea. At her Hello Sunshine media company’s Shine Away event on Saturday, Witherspoon told The Hollywood Reporter that she had “been sitting on that news for two years.”

“I had the idea two years ago and then I approached Harlan Coben probably eight months ago and I was like, ‘Am I crazy?’ He said, ‘This is a really good idea Reese,’ so I knew I was onto something,” she explained. “Then we started brainstorming together and it just started to grow and become this really fun opportunity to create together. I’ve always loved his writing; I can’t believe he...

The Perfect Couple shot to the top overall spot in Nielsen’s streaming rankings for its premiere week.

The murder mystery limited series, which stars Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber and Dakota Fanning, accumulated 1.91 billion minutes of viewing for the week of Sept. 2-8 (it premiered on Sept. 5). That’s the fifth highest total for any original series premiere week on the streaming charts this year, behind Fool Me Once (3.04 billion minutes), Fallout (2.9 billion), Bridgerton (2.76 billion) and Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender (2.56 billion).

The Perfect Couple was one of five titles to record more than a billion minutes of viewing for the week. The others are Netflix’s movie Rebel Ridge (1.11 billion), Family Guy (1.06 billion), Prison Break (1.05 billion) — which had been the overall No. 1 for the previous four weeks — and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (1.02 billion), which was even with its season two premiere a week earlier.

There’s nothing quite like the shock of stumbling on an old flame on a dating app. When it happens to Detective Kat Donovan, seeing her ex-fiancé’s face again forces her to revisit old wounds … and buried secrets.

That’s exactly what you’ll find in Missing You, the new mystery-thriller from Harlan Coben. The limited series, which will be released in 2025, features the author’s signature blend of twists, turns, and surprises that will have you on your toes ’til the very end.

Missing You,adapted from Coben’s novel of the same name, is the author’s latest on-screen collaboration with Netflix, following other must-see series like Stay Close, Fool Me Once, and The Stranger.

The limited series was produced by Quay Street Productions. Coben serves as an executive producer on the project, alongside Nicola Shindler, Richard Fee, Danny Brocklehurst, and Victoria Asare-Archer, who’s also the series’ writer.

Reese Witherspoon has added author to her already multi-hyphenate resume.

The actress revealed on Instagram that she and best-selling author Harlan Coben are collaborating on a thriller book, and the novel is set to release in the fall of 2025.

“As a massive fan of Harlan’s work, I can’t believe he agreed to co-author a novel with me. I’m either the most persuasive person alive or the idea of this book is just Too Good! Maybe both ??...

Reese Witherspoon is adding “published author” to her résumé.

Ben Sevier, president & publisher of Grand Central Publishing, announced Wednesday the acquisition of a new suspense novel by Witherspoon and best-selling author and TV creator Harlan Coben.

The novel is Witherspoon’s debut and is based on her original idea. In addition to writing and publishing the novel, a screen adaptation is also in development.

Witherspoon said in a statement, “To say I am a fan of Harlan’s body of work is a massive understatement … the fact that he found my idea for this thriller intriguing enough to want to partner with me on it as co-author is a dream becoming a reality. Scheming with Harlan on how to thrill audiences with mysterious characters and complex narrative twists and turns has already been more fun than I can describe. I can’t wait for everyone to read what we have been imagining.

Outside of her acting and producing work, Reese Witherspoon is known to tout other people’s novels via her Reese’s Book Club. Soon, she’ll be touting a book of her own.

Witherspoon announced that she is co-writing a thriller novel with bestselling mystery author Harlan Coben. Witherspoon did not yet reveal the title of the book, but it is set for publication on Oct. 14, 2025, according to a preorder webpage. The site also says the novel is 352 pages and will be distributed by Grand Central Publishing.

“I’m beyond excited to share that I’m co-writing my very first thriller with #1 bestselling author, @harlancoben!” Witherspoon wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of her and Coben. “As a massive fan of Harlan’s work, I can’t believe he agreed to co-author a novel with me. I’m either the most persuasive person alive or the idea of this book is just Too Good!

Netflix’s 2024 batch of family crime dramas have been quite the test of patience. Things started off pretty rocky with Fool Me Once, which featured rich people doing murderous things (I watched it in January and I don’t remember the details). That was followed by The Brothers Sun, which was packed with some of the most enjoyable stunts and a lot of heartwrenching mother-son drama. The streaming platform lulled me into a sense of comfort with the equally amazing House of Ninjas, which was about, you guessed it, a family full of Shinobi facing a deadly threat. Then, things started to go off the rails. Eric was all over the place. Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper established some sort of stability. But the triple-punch delivered by The Accident, The Perfect Couple, and Blood Legacy demolished the genre’s reputation. And, while I thought they were done with this nonsense, now...

Netflix‘s latest viewership report shows that the oldies in its library are still goodies. The latest edition of the streamer’s What We Watched recap revealed that classics like Suits and Avatar: The Last Airbender rank among the most popular offerings in the entire global Netflix catalog.

This is the third time that Netflix has shared precise viewership data across a specific six-month period. The new What We Watched report covers the first half of 2024, when some prominent originals drew attention from Netflix viewers. The limited series Fool Me Once was the only program to get more than 100 million views during the measured period, but the third season of Bridgerton was hot on its heels with approximately 91.9 million half-year views.

The upper echelon of the list reinforces some of the themes we pulled out during our coverage of the inaugural What We Watched report. There are more TV shows...

Exclusive: The topic of how the major streamers pay talent has been one of the dominant conversations in Hollywood over the past few months.

Netflix is holding a presentation for top agents and managers where it will likely be discussed as the streamer is understood to be reevaluating how it structures its deals going forward.

We hear that reps for WME, CAA, UTA, Paradigm, Verve, Gersh and other agencies as well as a number of the large management companies are heading to a breakfast event – titled Netflix Explained – at the Tudum Theater tomorrow morning.

Billed as an event aimed at providing talent representatives with better understanding how Netflix operates, agents and managers are expecting information about more transparency on how the streamer pays their talent.

While the subject of streaming pay models is not officially on the agenda for the presentation, which we understand will be given by Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria,...

The UK entertainment industry has seen several notable announcements recently. Quay Street Productions, known for the hit Netflix series “Fool Me Once,” will produce a new BBC thriller titled “The Guest.” Starring Eve Myles and Gabrielle Creevy, the show explores the relationship between a business owner and her employee. As the employee works as a cleaner, she becomes enthralled by her employer’s encouragement but their bond evolves into psychological manipulation.

Writer Matthew Barry, who worked with Quay Street on “Men Up,” crafted compelling scripts for “The Guest” with tension, twists, and relatable characters. Producers Nicola Shindler and Davina Earl praised Barry’s incorporation of wit and humor into the complex characters and plot. Quay Street’s success with “Fool Me Once,” the most watched Netflix show earlier this year, shows their ability to engage audiences.

In other developments, the Creative Diversity Network (Cdn) joined with ScreenSkills to promote inclusion.

‘Fool Me Once’ Producer Quay Street Lands Next Project For BBC

Fool Me Once producer Quay Street Productions has landed a BBC thriller series starring Eve Myles and Gabrielle Creevy. The Guest comes from Matthew Barry, who was also behind Quay Street’s Russell Davies-produced Men Up drama for the Beeb. The Guest centers on the toxic and beguiling relationship between a successful business owner, Fran, and her employee, Ria. Ria has never had the time or opportunity to think about what she might actually want from the world. So, when she starts cleaning for Fran, she’s intoxicated by this confident and self-assured woman who encourages her to take control of her life, but soon a manipulative cat-and-mouse game emerges. Myles leads BBC hit drama Keeping Faith, while Gabrielle Creevy will soon star in Sky’s high-profile Mozart series Amadeus as the musical genius’s wife. The Guest...

It’s good to be the king.

Ted Sarandos, co-ceo of Netflix, sits atop an industry-leading paid subscriber count of nearly 280 million worldwide. This week, Sarandos spoke at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York and previewed Netflix’s latest gigantic data dump on Thursday — its biannual “Engagement Report” showing views and total viewing hours for 99% of the content on the platform.

In aggregate, Netflix customers streamed 94 billion hours of programming in the first half of 2024. That’s up just a hair from 93 billion a year earlier, but it’s still up. “I don’t think we could be any more transparent than this,” Sarandos said at the conference. “I’m hoping that the other folks in the business will follow suit.”

Well, no kidding. Sarandos would love for Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, Max or any other streamer to put numbers out revealing virtually all viewing of their users...

Good afternoon Insiders, it’s time for you to get your weekly fix as we dive head first behind the headlines. Please read on, and sign up here.

Netflix Dishes The Data

Being transparent: Long-serving Netflix execs love to ruminate on the era when the company was a DVD mailing service, but what felt pertinent this week was the streamer’s more recent transformation into an outfit that is very much at ease with transparency over viewing data. The murky days of walled gardens and numbers being kept hidden from even the most in-the-know producers appear behind us, and Ted Sarandos was in the English capital to beat this particular drum. In a fortuitous bit of timing that was probably more execution than luck, the CEO keynoted a Netflix-sponsored Rts London Convention event in the week that the streamer’s latest data dump revealed the Brits have this year, in common parlance,...

Spanish Oscar nominee Society Of The Snow was among the most watched films on Netflix in the first half of 2024, according to the streamer’s latest viewership data.

Ja Bayona’s real-life disaster drama was at number three in the chart, behind action titles Damsel and Lift, with 103.8 million views. Other notable titles in the top 100 included Sam Esmail’s Leave The World Behind, in 35th place with 40.5 million views, and Richard Linklater’s 2024 Venice premiere Hit Man – 47th with 30.9 million views.

Maestro, which scored seven Oscar nominations, was viewed 5.8 million times in the time period, while double nominee Nyad was on 11.2 million.

In a clear sign of the times, more competitors have been licensing content to Netflix in the past year or so, including Showtime, which handed Your Honor and Dexter over this summer.

Netflix’s latest edition of What We’re Watching, which pulls back the curtain on viewership for all of its titles every six months, gives an early indication about how those shows have been performing since they landed on the service in June.

The two seasons of Your Honor tallied 16.1M views in just under a month on the service, after arriving on May 31. Season 1 put up 10M of those views, landing it at No. 142 among Netflix’s thousands of titles.

That’s a strong start for the series, performing better in one month than many of the HBO titles that the streamer previously acquired did in six months. This report only encompasses viewership data from January to June,...

Are there millions of people hate-watching movies on Netflix?

Two of the streaming giant’s original films, sci-fi feature “Atlas,” starring Jennifer Lopez, and romantic comedy “Mother of the Bride,” starring Brooke Shields and Miranda Cosgrove, garnered notably poor reviews and audience-rating scores. But both were among the most popular films on Netflix in the first half of 2024, according to the company’s latest massive data report: “Atlas” registered 77.1 million views worldwide and “Mother of the Bride” had 77.7 million.

Those metrics put both in the top 10 of Netflix’s most-watched movies for the first six months of the year — all the more remarkable because the report measured less than two months of viewing for those two titles: “Mother of the Bride” debuted May 9 and “Atlas” dropped on May 24.

“Atlas” has a meager 19% critics score (based on 110 reviews) on Rotten Tomatoes, and “Mother of the Bride” is even lower at 13% (48 reviews...

Netflix released its semi-annual data dump on Thursday, unveiling viewership for the streamer’s biggest hits — and not so big releases — from January through June of 2024.

While the most-watched seasons of TV during the six-month interval included “Fool Me Once,” “Bridgerton” Season 3, “Baby Reindeer” and “The Gentlemen,” a group of winners have arisen from the data dump, including children’s TV as a whole — including “Peppa Pig” — “Young Sheldon” and buzzy crime docs like “Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal.”

As the streamer continues to bolster its live event programming, the success of “The Roast of Tom Brady” followed in the footsteps of “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage” as it found an eager audience, whereas the first-ever livestream of the SAG-AFTRA Awards earlier this year didn’t do much for Netflix, viewership-wise.

For the full breakdown of the biggest TV-centric revelations from Netflix’s data dump for the first half of 2024, see below.

Netflix’s latest data dump has given more insight into its decision-making process when it comes to renewals and cancellations.

While the streamer has always said those decisions come down to performance vs. cost, its third What We Watched report is beginning to crystallize what some of the thresholds are for various genres, as well as what “performance” means to Netflix beyond just raw viewership numbers.

Obliterated and Dead Boy Detectives were the two shows to get the axe this year that drew the most views from January to June, though it was clearly not enough to keep either show alive.

Obliterated was No. 1 among cancelled shows, tallying 13.3M views in the first half of the year, coming in 83rd for all titles. The show was released at the end of November 2023, and it accumulated 27M views through the end of December, which actually put it among Netflix’s Top...

‘Baby Reindeer,’ ‘Bridgerton,’ and ‘Fool Me Once’ were the most-watched titles on Netflix as revealed by its latest data dump.

Netflix is putting its money where its mouth is. Company co-ceo Ted Sarandos harangued other streaming executives this week for not being more transparent, and Netflix followed up his words by following through with another data dump regarding how much viewership it received in the first half of 2024. British TV was the biggest genre of the year for the streamer, with titles like “Bridgerton,” “Fool Me Once” and the controversy-generating “Baby Reindeer” compiling tens of millions of views.

Key Details: Netflix was watched for 94 billion hours total in the first half of 2024. Four of the top 10 series in Netflix’s first half of 2024 were British productions. **The top-performing American series was “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” Sign Up $6.99+ / month netflix.com

“Fool Me Once” was the top series for Netflix in...

Today, BritBox and the BBC announced the cast of Riot Women, the brand-new drama series from the multi-bafta award-winning writer Sally Wainwright.

Leading the cast and the Riot Women band are Joanna Scanlan as Beth, Rosalie Craig as Kitty, Tamsin Greig as Holly, Lorraine Ashbourne as Jess, and Amelia Bullmore as Yvonne.

Anne Reid (The Sixth Commandment) will play Nancy, Holly and Yvonne’s mother, with Sue Johnston (The Royle Family) as Jess’s Aunt Mary. Peter Davison (Doctor Who), Claire Skinner (Outnumbered), and Angel Coulby (Merlin) also join the cast.

In Riot Women, we dive headfirst into the world of five women who, along with two riotous backing singers, come together to create a makeshift punk-rock band in order to enter a local talent contest, but in writing their first original song, soon discover that they have a lot to say – and this is their way to say it.

The theme song for Netflix’s data dump for the first half of 2024 might as well be “Rule, Britannia.”

Four U.K.-produced series are at the top of the streamer’s internal rankings for January to June, led by Fool Me Once with 107.5 million views worldwide over the course of those six months. Season three of Bridgerton (91.9 million views), Baby Reindeer (87.6 million) and The Gentlemen (75.9 million) round out the top four.

All told, Netflix’s 280 million subscribers watched 94 billion hours’ worth of programming on the service in the first half of the year, up from about 90 billion hours for the second half of 2023. Netflix’s first engagement report, covering the first half of 2023, covered about 100 billion hours of viewing.

As with the last report, the list of top series spotlights Netflix’s global reach. In addition to the four British series at the top of the list the top...

BAFTA-winner Joanna Scanlan is leading Riot Women, Sally Wainwright’s BBC series about a group of middle-aged women who form a punk rock band, while BritBox International has boarded as co-producer.

Scanlan, who won a BAFTA for After Love, will play Beth opposite Rosalie Craig (Moonflower Murders, Serpent Queen) as Kitty, Tamsin Greig (Sexy Beast, The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin) as Holly, Lorraine Ashbourne (Sherwood, Alma’s Not Normal) as Jess, and Amelia Bullmore (The Buccaneers, Vienna Blood) as Yvonne. Anne Reid (The Sixth Commandment) will play Nancy, Holly and Yvonne’s mother, with Sue Johnston (The Royle Family) as Jess’s Aunt Mary. Peter Davison (Doctor Who), Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) and Angel Coulby (Merlin) also join the cast.

The series sees the women, along with two backing singers, come together to create a makeshift band in order to enter a local talent contest, but in writing their first original song,...

Netflix saw a British invasion in the first six months of the year — with four of its 10 biggest shows globally in the first half of 2024 coming from the U.K.: “Fool Me Once,” the Emmy-winning “Baby Reindeer,” “The Gentlemen” and “One Day.”

In addition, Shonda Rhimes’ U.K.-set “Bridgerton” Season 3 was the No. 2 most-watched show worldwide from January-June 2024. The season notched a whopping 91.9 million views in less than two months following its May 14 premiere. All told, shows in the “Bridgerton” universe garnered 189 million views in the first half of 2024; views in the six-month period for “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” hit 24 million (doubling versus the second half of last year) while views of of “Bridgerton” seasons 1 and 2 jumped fivefold compared with the prior six months.

The company calculates views by dividing total hours viewed divided by runtime. (See the lists of the top 10 shows and films on Netflix below.

Exclusive: Harlan Coben and Nicola Shindler have flagged a “shared vision” and “hybrid British-American sensibilities” as leading to the success of Fool Me Once, Netflix’s most-watched show in the first half of this year.

The showrunner-producer pair chatted to Deadline in advance of the latest data dump, which saw their fourth Netflix UK Coben adaptation top the charts with more than 100 million views in the first half of this year. And it’s been a good day for the Brits, with Bridgerton, Baby Reindeer and The Gentlemen backing up Fool Me Once in the top four and One Day also making the top 10. Ted Sarandos was in London earlier this week trumpeting the Brits’ success.

With the show having launched nearly a year ago, Coben cited a “shared vision” between himself, Shindler, writer Danny Brocklehurst, producer Richard Fee and Netflix as contributing to its runaway success.

“We work hard...

“Damsel” and “Fool Me Once” are taking the titles of the most-watched movie and show on Netflix in the first half of 2024.

Specifically, the Millie Bobby Brown movie was viewed 143.8 million times for a total of 263.7 million hours. As for “Fool Me Once,” it was viewed 107.5 million times for a total of 689.5 million hours.

Netflix dropped its first engagement report of the year on Friday, revealing that people watched over 94 billion hours on Netflix during this six-month time period.

On the movies side, the Kevin Hart and Billy Magnussen heist comedy “Lift” was more widely viewed than “Fool Me Once,” securing 129.4 million views. That was followed by the third most-watched titled “Society of the Snow” at 103.8 million views as well as “Under Paris” at 84.7 million views and the Universal Pictures movie “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” at 80.3 million views.

The rest of the top 10 movies included “Mother of the Bride...

Netflix’s latest data dump is here and, as trailed by Ted Sarandos earlier this week, the Brits have dominated the TV series listings.

Harlan Coben adaptation Fool Me Once led the pack in the first half of 2024 with more than 100 million views globally, just ahead of the third season of Bridgerton on 91.9 million. Bridgerton had an epic six months, with its first and second season also making the top 20 with 38.4 million and 34.2 million views globally. Shonda Rhimes’ show is commissioned out of the U.S. but made in the UK with British acting talent.

After Bridgerton Season 3 came Baby Reindeer – the controversial smash series that is currently subject to a lawsuit – watched by 87.6 million, with The Gentlemen next with 75.9 million.

The most-watched U.S. series was Avatar: The Last Airbender in fifth with 71.1 million, followed by Griselda. In seventh place was also a British series, American Nightmare, the highest-rated...

Lack of transparency with viewership numbers is an ongoing complaint in the streaming space, but Netflix's co-ceo Ted Sarandos doesn't "think we could be any more transparent than" its biannual data dump, which reports number of views and hours watched per season on the platform. In fact, speaking at the Fast Company Innovation Festival,...

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos recently spoke about the company’s content strategy and commitment to direct streaming. He said some theatrical releases can be inefficient and that Netflix can invest heavily in films without needing box office success. This allows the streaming service to put movies directly on its platform.

Sarandos also noted competitors like Apple have struggled with theatrical releases for expensive movies. Apple reportedly plans a limited one-week theatrical run for its Brad Pitt and George Clooney film “Wolfs” before releasing it on Apple TV+.

The Netflix executive said audiences do not care about release windows between theaters and streaming. This aligns with Netflix prioritizing subscriber access over traditional distribution models. Sarandos emphasized constantly innovating, warning those who protect outdated practices risk becoming obsolete.

A key part of Netflix’s success, according to Sarandos, is U.K.-produced shows. He said the top four titles on Netflix worldwide—“Fool Me Once,...

British TV boss Nicola Shindler has explained why Channel 4’s It’s a Sin took “a long time” to get made — and the reason is creator Russell T. Davies‘ own genius.

Shindler, executive producer and CEO of Quay Street Productions, spoke alongside Top Gear and Clarkson’s Farm producer Andy Wilman at The Royal Television Society’s London Convention on Tuesday.

Shindler is behind work such as the BAFTA-winning Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax. She said It’s a Sin, which followed the HIV/Aids crisis take hold of a friendship group and extended queer community in 1980s London, took “a long time” to get made because Doctor Who writer Davies wanted the script to first focus on the characters.

“The minute we set out to do that, my job was to make sure Russell’s voice was heard from the very beginning,” Schindler said. “It was about, ‘I...

“The Grand Tour” producer Andy Wilman says the seeds for his success were sown at school — which he attended with Jeremy Clarkson.

“I went to school with him which is like, argh,” Wilman revealed. “But we didn’t plan any of this when we were at school, obviously not. We do have a synergy. Some of it did come from school… we never sat down and planned a hit because I don’t think we were clever enough to do that. ‘Top Gear’ became that big but it was by accident.”

Wilman co-created Jeremy Clarkson motoring show “Top Gear” before jumping ship with Clarkson when he was fired by the BBC, moving to Prime Video where they launched a new motoring show called “The Grand Tour.” Wilman also produces “Clarkson’s Farm” among other series.

“Jeremy and I are like a couple of old blokes who started a baker’s shop...

British television shows have emerged as the biggest hits for Netflix subscribers around the globe. Netflix co-ceo Ted Sarandos revealed at a recent industry event that the four most popular titles on Netflix between January and June came from the UK. The shows—”Fool Me Once,” “Bridgerton,” “The Gentleman,” and “Baby Reindeer”—together gathered over 360 million viewers worldwide.

Sarandos made the announcement while addressing attendees at the Royal Television Society conference in London. He praised the strength of the British television and film industries. According to Sarandos, factors like robust public broadcasters, training programs for creators, supportive policies, and tax breaks have helped UK productions succeed both domestically and internationally.

Research from Deadline also found growing interest in British entertainment. Streaming of UK movies and shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video jumped 40% among US viewers in recent quarters. This increase partially stemmed from strikes affecting new American show development.

Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos robustly defended Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd while speaking at the Royal Television Society (Rts) London conference today, announcing the streamer has just agreed a multi-year first-look deal with Gadd for scripted series.

Baby Reindeer won four Emmys at the weekend and has been a global hit for Netflix, according to the company. But the streamer is being sued for $170m by Fiona Harvey who allegedly inspired the stalker character Martha.

“We are about facilitating storytellers to tell their stories. This is Richard’s true story… I think he is a brilliant storyteller and told an incredible story…...

2024 has been the year of the Brits on Netflix.

The streamer’s CEO Ted Sarandos has just revealed that the top four most-watched shows on the platform in the first half of this year were all made in the UK.

Episodes of Fool Me Once, Bridgerton, The Gentlemen and Baby Reindeer were watched a combined total of 360 million times in H1 2024, he said at the Rts London during a keynote.

The figures will be contained in Netflix’s next big data dump, which will come out later this week and feature stats from the first six months of 2024.

Deadline reported on Digital-i research in August that found American audiences had flocked to British content since the WGA and SAG strikes, with viewing to UK shows and movies on Netflix and Prime Video skyrocketing by 40% between Q2 2023 and Q1 of this year.

We can reach 25%

Sarandos was at the Rts praising the British industry,...

Streaming giant Netflix is betting on original content with local authenticity and a focus on audiences rather than critics or media executives, co-ceo Ted Sarandos told a TV industry gathering in London on Tuesday.

Speaking during a keynote address at the Royal Television Society’s (Rts) London Convention 2024, for which Netflix served as the principal sponsor, he also shared his thoughts on the streamer’s British hits, including Baby Reindeer, for which star Richard Gadd won Emmys for best actor and best writer on a limited or anthology series or movie this weekend, and the importance of the U.K. for the streamer and the country’s creative edge.

For example, Sarandos told the event that when Netflix publishes its latest audience engagement report on Thursday, the top four shows will all be U.K.-produced, namely Fool Me Once, Baby Reindeer, Bridgerton, and The Gentlemen, with a combined reach of 360 million households.

Joel Dommett hosts the 29th National Television Awards, broadcasting live from the O2 London. The ceremony brings together an array of stars, including Vicky McClure, Jessica Gunning, and Toby Jones, with exclusive performances, including a special medley by Olly Murs. The awards feature a diverse range of programmes, with nominations including Fool Me Once, Clarkson’s […]

The National Television Awards 2024, Wednesday, 11 September on ITV1...

It's only been a day since its release, and the new thriller limited series The Perfect Couple has already secured a spot on Netflix's top 10 TV show list. In fact, it's sitting at the No. 1 spot as of Sept. 6, meaning it's Netflix's most popular show at the moment. But should we really be surprised? I mean, if you just take a look at who's in the cast, that's enough to make you want to watch it. The show's premise will pull you in as well!

If you're an avid book fan, chances are you've heard about New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand's book The Perfect Couple. Well, that's what this Netflix thriller limited series is based on. It centers around a young woman named Amelia, who is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families on Nantucket, the Winbury family. But things take a tragic turn when,...

Apple TV+ has rounded out the main cast of its upcoming series adaptation of the Mick Herron novel “Down Cemetery Road.”

Adeel Akhtar, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Tom Goodman-Hill, Darren Boyd, Tom Riley, Adam Godley, Sinead Matthews, Ken Nwosu, Fehinti Balogun, and Aiysha Hart have all been cast in the series.

They will appear alongside previously announced leads Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson.

The official description for the series states, “When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a girl disappears in the aftermath, neighbor Sarah Tucker (Wilson) becomes obsessed with finding her and enlists the help of private investigator Zoë Boehm (Thompson). Zoë and Sarah suddenly find themselves in a complex conspiracy that reveals that people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead.”

Akhtar will appear as Hamza. Stewart-Jarrett will play Downey. Goodman-Hill has been cast as Gerard, and Boyd has been cast as C.

If you're scrolling through your streaming services and think there's nothing good to watch, you're in luck. There's actually plenty of new movies and shows to watch on Netflix that might be a bit under your radar. To that point, there's also a slew of recent releases to catch up in case you've fallen behind thanks to school, work, or just life in general.

True crime documentary series American Murder: Laci Peterson remains the No. 1 show on Netflix going into the Aug. 23 weekend. The gripping docuseries arrived one week ahead of Peacock's own docuseries on the same case. For something a little lighter, Emily in Paris also remains in the top 10 following the release of the highly anticipated season 4 part 1.

Even more shows are burning up the top 10 ranking, including AMC titles like Dark Winds, A Discovery of Witches, and Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches and the latest part of That '90s Show.