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If you're looking for a high-concept, mysterious sci-fi show in the vein of "Under the Dome," "From," or "Manifest," Stephen King has a recommendation for you. The master of horror has always loved sharing recommendations for spooky genre offerings on social media, and this week he took to Threads (he left the cesspool formerly known as Twitter in November) to highlight the UK-made series "The Midwich Cuckoos."

"The Midwich Cuckoos (Amazon): Surprised there hasn't been more talk about this," King recently posted on Threads. "It's a brilliant re-imagining of John Wyndham's classic sci-fi/horror novel." The title of one of Wyndam's best-known novels may not sound familiar to you, but the name of its earlier film adaptation might: "The Midwich Cuckoos" became "Village of the Damned" when Wolf Rilla adapted it in 1960. That version of the story is considered an all-time-great horror movie, alternately dubbed as an "excellent...

Stephen King praises a sci-fi adaptation of a classic sci-fi horror, which flew under the radar when it was first released. As the year comes to a close, the seminal author has shared some of his TV favorites. They've varied from the Jamie Dornan crime thriller The Tourist to the short-lived Apple TV+ series Constellation. But several of his recommendations tended to have one thing in common.

Whether it was the straightforward horrors of shows like Evil or Teacup or the more subdued unease of a drama like the Billy Crystal-led Before, several of King's TV notables tend to revolve around unsettling situations that would not seem at all out of place in some of his most famous novels. The author's latest recommendation follows along those lines.

King Highlights The Midwich Cuckoos The Series Is Adapted From John Wyndham's 1957 Novel

A British sci-fi series, based on the 1957 novel of the same name,...

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If you are a horror fan then there is a big chance that you might have heard about the horror streaming service Shudder, and if you have its subscription you might be wondering what’s in store for you in December 2024. Don’t worry there is a host of new and old horror movies coming to the service in the upcoming month and we have listed the 10 best movies coming to Shudder in December 2024.

Coming Home in the Dark (December 1) Credit – MPI Media Group

Coming Home in the Dark is a psychological horror thriller film directed by James Ashcroft who also co-wrote the screenplay with Eli Kent. Based on the 1995 short story of the same name by Owen Marshall, the 2021 film follows a high-school teacher and his family on a road trip but they are soon captured by...

The anxiety one feels getting into a cab has mostly been lost with the advent of rideshare apps. However, every once in a while, terrible stories break through with tragic results. Black Cab, a new thrilling horror film from director Bruce Goodison, reminds us of those anxious experiences. With Nick Frost returning to horror to play an antagonist to Syvonne Karlsen, Black Cab transitions between tones and subgenres with precise maneuvering. Thanks to its great performances, Black Cab rises above the seclusion of its actors.

Related “Peak coming soon”: Nick Frost Confirmed for How to Train Your Dragon Live-Action After Gerard Butler’s Return as Viking Dad Black Cab Plot

After a tension-filled dinner, Anne (Synnøve Karlsen) and Patrick (Luke Norris) prepare for a ride home in silence. However, their cab driver (Nick Frost) actively breaks up the dead air. In his jokes and stories, he accidentally reveals Anne’s secret,...

The Innocents Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival The Innocents, All4.com, streaming now for 28 days

There was such a lot of great stuff on telly last week that I didn't get to include this superior Nordic chiller. Good news, then, that it's on Channel 4's streaming service and a perfect film if you're looking for something to watch on Halloween. There's a touch of The Midwich Cuckoos to the kids we encounter on a housing estate, with the sense of oddness only magnified by the bright summery setting. Ida (Rakel Lenora Fløttum) is less than sympathetic to her older sister Anna (Alva Brynsmo Ramstad), who has autism. That makes a friendship with the similarly aged Ben (Sam Ashraf) appealing... especially when he reveals he has special powers. Elsewhere on the estate Aisha (Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim) also has special abilities - including being able to talk to Anna.

On an ordinary summer day, everything went dark in the small English village of Midwich. Without warning, a strange electrical disruption swept through the picturesque countryside community, cutting power and knocking out all who lived within.

Upon awakening hours later, residents received an even stranger revelation—every woman of childbearing age was now mysteriously pregnant. Child psychologist Dr. Susannah Zellaby was called in to help the shocked parents, but soon even she found herself perplexed by what could cause such an event.

As the months passed, more curious developments emerged with the births of the babies. Gifted with an unusual connection and growing at an alarming rate, the children did not seem normal.

Something unusual was happening in Midwich, sending ripples through the village and stirring concern from officials who feared things may not be what they seemed. A mystery had descended on the townspeople, and they were about to...

The Midwich Cuckoos, a British sci-fi horror series, is set to premiere on Acorn TV and Sundance Now on Thursday. The seven-part series is an adaptation of John Wyndham’s popular 1957 novel of the same name. Originally aired in the UK on Sky in 2022, the show has been retitled for American audiences as The […]

The Midwich Cuckoos: Village of the Damned Acorn TV Premiere Thursday October 17...

Hulu has revealed the new trailer for the eight-part Rivals series, which is based on the celebrated novel by Dame Jilly Cooper and produced by ITV Studios’ Happy Prince. The series will debut on Hulu in the U.S. on October 18, 2024.

Set against the backdrop of the drama, excess, and shocking antics of the power-grabbing social elite of 1980s England, Rivals delves headfirst into the ruthless world of independent television in 1986.

The series stars Alex Hassell as the dashing ex-Olympian, Member of Parliament, and dangerously charismatic Rupert Campbell-Black, David Tennant as Lord Tony Baddingham, and Aidan Turner as Declan O’Hara.

Nafessa Williams plays Cameron Cook, Katherine Parkinson portrays Lizzie Vereker, and Bella Maclean plays Taggie O’Hara.

The Rivals series also stars Emily Atack, Catriona Chandler, Oliver Chris, Danny Dyer, Rufus Jones, Lisa McGrillis, Luke Pasqualino, Claire Rushbrook, and Victoria Smurfit.

Rivals is executive produced by Dominic Treadwell-Collins, Alexander Lamb,...

Oscar-nominated Rosamund Pike will make her debut at London’s National Theatre in 2025, and they’ve given her the starring role in the world premiere of a new work by Suzie Miller, the playwright who created Prima Facie, the legal drama that catapulted Jodie Comer to Olivier and Tony Award trophies.

Pike has been cast in Miller’s Inter Alia, in which she’ll play a British High Court judge forced to reckon with conflict in her private and professional life. The production will reunite Miller with director Justin Martin, who also directed Comer in Prima Facie in the West End and on Broadway.

Inter Alia will be part of the final season of National Theatre director and co-chief executive Rufus Norris, who steps down from his post on March 31, 2025 after a decade at the helm of the UK’s flagship theatrical institution. Norris...

Few directors have enjoyed as successful a run as John Carpenter did from the late 70s to the late 80s. The writer-director-composer cranked out nine notable theatrical flicks from 78 to 88, and while not many of them were theatrical hits, they’re all now considered classics, either of the bona fide or cult variety. The 90s, however, were not so kind to the man. Starting with the ill-fated Memoirs of an Invisible Man, which was a difficult production and, ultimately, a box office bomb, Carpenter struggled to mirror the success he’d enjoyed in the 80s. There’s no doubt that some of the titles have their supporters: In the Mouth of Madness is a genuinely entertaining nightmare of a movie, and his Showtime anthology Body Bags is enjoyable, if fairly forgettable – save for Carpenter’s extremely amusing performance as our undead host. And while yours truly is not a fan,...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

The Boy 4K Uhd from Scream Factory

The Boy comes to life on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on September 3 via Scream Factory. The 2016 horror film is presented in 4K from the original elements with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

William Brent Bell directs from a script by Stacey Menear. Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, Jim Norton, Diana Hardcastle, Ben Robson, Jett Klyne, and James Russell star.

Special features include: a new commentary by film critics Julia Cunningham and Emily Higgins; new interviews with Bell, Menear, cinematographer Daniel Pearl, doll designer Todd Masters, and doll handler Tannis Hegan; and the trailer.

Village of the Damned 4K Uhd from Scream Factory

Beware the children when Village of the Damned...

Hulu has revealed a new teaser trailer and more photos for the eight-part series Rivals, based on the celebrated novel by Dame Jilly Cooper and produced by Happy Prince, part of ITV Studios. The series is set to debut on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ in other countries later this year.

Set against the backdrop of the drama, excess, and shocking antics of the power-grabbing social elite of 1980s England, Rivals delves headfirst into the ruthless world of independent television in 1986.

This second wave of images (view the first wave of images here) introduces nine more iconic characters from the drama: Sarah Stratton, Caitlin O’Hara, James Vereker, and Freddie Jones.

There’s also Paul Stratton, Valerie Jones, Bas Baddingham, Lady Monica Baddingham, and Maud O’Hara.

The first looks are accompanied by a teaser trailer showcasing the ’80s set saga, which also stars Alex Hassell, Bella Maclean,...

Although it looks like the Jon Snow sequel series starring Kit Harington is no longer moving forward, there are still a number of Game of Thrones spin-off shows in development, including A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight.

Production is now underway in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and HBO/Max has released a first official look at Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall, aka "Dunk." It seems we're going to have to wait a little longer for a glimpse of Dexter Sol Ansell as his young squire, the secret Targaryen prince Aegon, aka "Egg."

Several new cast members have also been announced, including Finn Bennett (True Detective: Night Country) as Aerion Targaryen, Bertie Carvel (The Crown) as Baelor Targaryen, Tanzyn Crawford (Tiny Beautiful Things) as Tanselle, Daniel Ings (The Gentlemen) as Ser Lyonel Baratheon, and Sam Spruell (Fargo) as Maekar Targaryen.

Check out the image at the link below.

Exclusive: Here’s a first look at Sherwood Season 2, the highly-anticipated next instalment of James Graham’s BBC drama.

Filming on the House Productions show recently took place in and around the UK city Nottingham, and the images show the likes of Lorraine Ashbourne, Monica Dolan, Perry Fitzpatrick, David Morrissey, David Harewood, Michael Balogun, Christine Bottomley, Oliver Huntingdon and Robert Lindsay in character. Scroll to the bottom for all seven images.

Season 1 was a ratings success and was one of the most-watched British dramas of 2022, following a murder that shocks a former mining town where divisions still remain years after the miners’ strikes of 1984 and 1985.

The second season will introduce two new families, who become entangled with the Sparrows from the first run, entering a complex web of local gangs, old rivalries, revenge, and betrayal. At the same time, a new Sheriff of Nottingham fights passionately against a proposed new mine,...

Exclusive: Mrs Wilson producer Snowed-In Productions has hired Victoria Fea, the former ITV commissioner who co-founded Longboat Pictures.

Fea joins Snowed-In as an executive producer in June, reporting to CEO Ruth Kenley-Letts. Her appointment follows the departure of Jenny van der Lande to Big Talk Studios.

Snowed-In is behind projects including Itvx’s upcoming Sophie Turner series Joan and Mrs Wilson, the BBC’s Ruth Wilson drama. It also made The Midwich Cuckoos for Sky.

Fea said Snowed-In had a reputation for “classy” television, while Kenley-Letts paid tribute to van der Lande’s tenure at the company.

Longboat Changes

Fea’s exit from Longboat follows an ownership change at the production company she co-founded in 2019 with Julie Anne Robinson, a director who has worked on Doctor Who and Bridgerton.

Sky exited Longboat last year after taking a 25% stake in the company in 2020. Longboat is now wholly owned by The Story Collective,...

Hulu today gave a first glimpse of the avidly awaited eight-part series Rivals, based on the celebrated novel by Dame Jilly Cooper and produced by Happy Prince, part of ITV Studios. The series is set to debut on Disney+ in other countries later this year.

Set against the backdrop of the drama, excess, and shocking antics of the power-grabbing social elite of 1980s England, Rivals delves headfirst into the ruthless world of independent television in 1986.

This first wave of images unveiled six iconic characters from the drama. Alex Hassell plays the dashing ex-Olympian, Member of Parliament, incorrigible rake, and dangerously charismatic Rupert Campbell-Black.

David Tennant features as Lord Tony Baddingham, controller of Corinium Television and Rupert’s single-mindedly ambitious and egotistical adversary. Aidan Turner is journalist and TV presenter Declan O’Hara, who becomes caught in the crossfire of the long-simmering feud between Rupert and Tony.

Nafessa Williams is pictured as Cameron Cook,...

Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell to star in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight’ (Photos Provided by HBO)

HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight has found its Dunk and Egg. Peter Claffey has signed on to star as Dunk and Dexter Sol Ansell is confirmed to star as Egg.

“A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall (Claffey), and his diminutive squire, Egg (Ansell),” reads HBO’s synopsis. “Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.”

The much-anticipated drama is written by A Song of Fire and Ice author George R.R. Martin.

Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell will star in the HBO Original drama series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. Claffey will play Dunk, and Ansell will play Egg.

A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall (Claffey), and his diminutive squire, Egg (Ansell).

Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends

Peter Claffey is an actor and former Connacht Rugby player with credits in Apple TV’s Bad Sisters (2022) and Wreck (2022). Claffey’s upcoming projects include starring opposite Cillian Murphy in Small Things Like These and season 3 of Netflix’s Vikings: Valhalla.

Dexter Sol Ansell began his...

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff, has cast its two leads.

The series has cast Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell in the lead roles of Dunk and Egg, respectively.

Set a century before the events of Game of Thrones, it follows two unlikely heroes who wandered Westeros, a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed, great destinies, powerful foes and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.

In April 2023, HBO said it had ordered another Game of Thrones prequel titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. The prequel is based on the Dunk & Egg fantasy novellas written by George R.R. Martin.

Chronologically, it is...

The “Game of Thrones” prequel series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight” has found its leads.

The HBO series is based around the characters Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, Egg, featured in the “Tales of Dunk and Egg” books written by George R.R. Martin. Peter Claffey has been cast as Dunk, while Dexter Sol Ansell has been cast as Egg.

Variety exclusively reported the show was in development in 2021, with HBO ordering it to series in 2023. The official logline states, “A century before the events of ‘Game of Thrones,’ two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall (Claffey), and his diminutive squire, Egg (Ansell). Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits...

The BBC has acquired crime drama series Rebus, a new adaptation of the best-selling Inspector Rebus novels by Scottish author Ian Rankin, starring Richard Rankin (Outlander, The Replacement) in the lead role.

Adapted for the small screen by Gregory Burke (´71, Six Four) and produced by Eleventh Hour Films for Nordic streamer Viaplay, the six-part series will air on the U.K. public broadcaster’s flagship network BBC One, BBC Scotland and streamer BBC iPlayer this spring.

Rebus has been seen on the screen and stage before. An ITV series ran for four seasons from 2000 until 2007. The fictional inspector has also been featured in radio and theater adaptations.

The show features a younger, and recently divorced and demoted, protagonist. Set in Edinburgh, it “reimagines John Rebus as a younger Detective Sergeant drawn into a violent criminal conflict that turns personal when his brother Michael, a former soldier, crosses the line into criminality,...

Warning: This article contains Major Spoilers for all six episodes of Payback

Now we’ve streamed all of ITV’s latest crime thriller Payback on Itvx, we’re really going to miss being thoroughly confused, because its six mega-twisty episodes kept us guessing right to the end.

Writer Debbie O’Malley left no plot stone unturned in newly widowed Lexie’s quest to find out who killed her accountant husband Jared and just what he’d done with £27 million of crime lord Cal Morris’ hard-crimed cash.

In fact, the only questions we’ve got are: how did they manage to make financial crimes so exciting? How was Cal so terrifying, and yet so unfathomably likeable? And – after she spent all six episodes wearing a distinctive olive green number – does Lexie not own more than one coat?

We can’t answer these questions, but if you’re still curious about some of...

This article contains spoilers

John Carpenter is hands down one of America’s greatest filmmakers and composers, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a horror geek that doesn’t adore at least one of his movies. Born in 1948 to a a college music professor, Carpenter fell in love with cinema as a child and was out there making his own short films before he’d even started high school.

As the decades flew by, he was at the helm of some of the most beloved sci-fi and horror pictures of all time, whilst also composing the music for most of them, including the iconic scores for Halloween and Escape from New York.

Today, we’re ranking the director’s output, from Dark Star in 1974 to The Ward in 2010, but we should note that we haven’t included TV movies like Elvis or Someone’s Watching Me here, as we...

Stars: Dexter Sol Ansell, David Edward-Robertson, Sophia La Porta, Mark Peachey, Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips, Vicki Hackett, Bernard Hill | Written by Paul Thomas | Directed by Chris Cronin

The Moor opens in 1996 as young Claire (Billie Suggett) convinces the even younger Danny to distract a shopkeeper with a story about getting separated from his father while she steals some candy for them. It all goes according to plan until a strange man claims to be the boy’s father and takes him away. A suspect is caught and convicted, but neither Danny’s body nor those of several other missing boys was ever found.

Twenty-five years later Danny’s father Bill contacts Claire He plans to find his son’s body to help keep his killer from being released and he wants her to use her podcast to help document it. Out of her sense of guilt, she agrees.

Bill’s method of...

The cinema of science fiction began to mature in the 1950s, concurrent with the arrival of the Cold War and the Atomic Age, as well as the growing sophistication of the literature. But it was during the 1960s that the genre really began to expand in different directions, still heavily influenced by the ideological paranoia and existential dread of the previous decade, but finding even more distinctive expressions of it.

At the same time, the 1960s was also the decade in which sci-fi movies truly started to become event films, not just B-movies and drive-in fodder, as evidenced by the likes of landmarks like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes, both released in 1968. There were other successes as well, some of them on our list below, but a lot of remarkable sci-fi films of the era did not initially score with critics, audiences, or either. Yet nuclear terror,...

Casting

A stellar cast has been revealed by the BBC and House Productions for Season 2 of James Graham’s BAFTA-winning hit crime drama “Sherwood.”

Directed by Clio Barnard (“Ali & Ava”) the news cast included David Harewood (“The Night Manager”), Robert Lindsay (“My Family”), Monica Dolan (“Black Mirror”), Sharlene Whyte (“Small Axe”), Stephen Dillane (“Vigil”), Ria Zmitrowicz (“The Power”), Aisling Loftus (“The Midwich Cuckoos”), Robert Emms (“Andor”), Michael Balogun (“Top Boy”), Christine Bottomley (“Domina”), Oliver Huntingdon (“Happy Valley”) Jorden Myrie (“Mood”), Conor Deane (“All Creatures Great & Small”) and Bethany Asher (“Wild Bill”).

The returning cast includes David Morrissey (“Red Riding”), Lesley Manville (“Mrs Harris Goes to Paris”), Lorraine Ashbourne (“Alma’s Not Normal”), Philip Jackson (“Raised by Wolves”), Perry Fitzpatrick (“Line of Duty”), Bill Jones (“The Village”) and Adam Hugill (“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”).

Season 2 introduces two new families entering a complex web of local gangs, old rivalries,...

James Graham’s BBC drama Sherwood has added more than a dozen Season 2 cast members including David Harewood and Monica Dolan.

One of the BBC’s most-watched drama series last year moves to the present day for its second season. Homeland star Harewood and BAFTA-winner Dolan are joined by Robert Lindsay, Sharlene Whyte (Stephen, Small Axe), Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones, Vigil), Ria Zmitrowicz (The Power, Three Girls), Aisling Loftus (The Midwich Cuckoos, War and Peace), Robert Emms (Andor, Chernobyl), Michael Balogun (Top Boy, The Lehman Trilogy), Christine Bottomley(Domina, Back To Life), Oliver Huntingdon (The Rising, Happy Valley) Jorden Myrie (Mood, The Strays) and Conor Deane (All Creatures Great & Small, Newark) and Bethany Asher (Wild Bill, Mobility).

Leads David Morrissey and Lesley Manville are reprising their roles and the second season is being directed by three-time BAFTA nominee Clio Barnard, with Quiz scribe Graham penning the six episodes.

Exclusive: Signora Volpe is heading back to Italy.

The series, which stars Emilia Fox as a British spy in Italy, has been renewed for Season 2 at AMC Networks’ Acorn TV.

It comes a year after the series launched three feature-length episodes. It is produced by ITV Studios-backed production company Route 24, which is behind Sky’s The Midwich Cuckoos.

Season 2 finds former British spy Sylvia Fox, played by Emilia Fox, even more deeply in love with Italy, and with life in the picturesque medieval town of Panicale. Contrary to her sister Isabel’s expectations, Sylvia appears to have lost her nomadic instincts, and after a year of living in Panicale, is fast becoming part of the local community. Sylvia spends her time reconnecting with her sister and restoring a gorgeous but crumbling old house in the hills. But old habits die hard, and though Sylvia might have left her job at MI6 behind,...

Exclusive: Sky wanted to start 2023 with a bang. Comcast’s European pay-tv giant gathered journalists at London’s salubrious Soho Hotel and laid on a banquet table heaving with Danish pastries. A smorgasbord of upcoming Sky content was also on the menu, but there was really only one show on everyone’s lips. The Last of Us had recently premiered and Pedro Pascal’s blockbuster apocalypse series was in the mood to steal Sky’s thunder.

Sky is the home of HBO content in the UK and people who know the business will tell you it is both a blessing and a curse. In many respects, it is the diamond-studded crown atop Sky’s £500M ($630M) original content pile, but industry insiders say the headgear weighs heavy.

HBO makes some of the best television in the world by any standard, meaning Sky is subscription bait for Succession and Game of Thrones fans.

Streamer Disney+ has revealed a power packed British cast who will join the previously announced David Tennant, Alex Hassell, Aidan Turner and Danny Dyer on the series adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s steamy novel “Rivals.”

Joining the eight-part saga are Annabel Scholey (“The Split”), Maggie Steed (“Ten Percent”), David Calder (“Motherland”), Antony Byrne (‘”The Witcher”), Denise Black (“Queer as Folk”), Bryony Hannah (“Call The Midwife”), Olivia Poulet (“Back”) and Brendan Patricks (“Downton Abbey”).

“Rivals” is part of Cooper’s bestselling “Rutshire Chronicles,” set in affluent 1980s England where two powerful men and neigbors – Olympian turned politician Rupert Campbell-Black and television exec Tony Baddingham – have a longstanding rivalry that finally comes to a head.

Scholey plays Beattie Johnson, a ruthless Fleet Street journalist who will do anything for a story. Steed plays Lady Gosling, the steely no-nonsense chair of Independent Broadcasters Association. Calder plays Lady Gosling’s dogmatic right-hand man, Fergus Penney,...

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a Bridgerton spinoff series that shows us how life was in the Ton during the early days of Queen Charlotte and King George’s marriage. We get to see how they meet and fall in love, how her reign leads to social change in the Ton, and how she became the strong and influential Queen that we see in Bridgerton’s first two seasons. But just because this series introduces us to younger versions of familiar characters doesn’t mean that it’s stuck in the past. Queen Charlotte also features an arc set in the “present day” Regency era of the original series that focuses on Charlotte, Lady Danbury, and Violet Bridgerton’s friendship.

Between both eras, Queen Charlotte has a massive cast full of new and familiar faces. If you want to be as up to date on the hot gossip of the ton as Lady Whistledown,...

Undercover detectives, maverick detectives, teenage detectives, comedy detectives… there’ll be no shortage of sleuths on the small screen in 2023 and beyond, or of complex, multi-episode crimes for them to solve. This year and next, a gaggle of movie star names will be appearing on both sides of TV’s police interrogation table, including Jodie Foster (in True Detective), Benedict Cumberbatch (in Eric), Nicole Kidman (in Lioness), Jon Hamm (in Fargo) and Meryl Streep (in Only Murders in the Building).

There’s also a raft of promising-sounding new and returning British detective commissions on the way, from true crime drama The Sixth Commandment starring Timothy Spall, to the return of BBC hit Vigil, spooky Prime Video brain-twister The Devil’s Hour, and good old Shetland. Find your next crime mystery obsession below.

The majority of the titles featured are still awaiting official release dates. We’ll add more info as soon...

Viaplay’s first U.K. drama commission, “Rebus,” has gone into production in Scotland. The show has also added some new cast members including “Line of Duty’s” Lucie Shorthouse, Brian Ferguson (“The Ipcress File”) and Stuart Bowman (“The Serpent”).

They will join Richard Rankin (“Outlander”) as John Rebus, the much-loved character John Rebus from Ian Rankin’s bestselling novels.

“Rebus” tells the story of a Scottish police detective who “finds himself at a psychological crossroads,” according to the logline. “At odds with a job increasingly driven by corporate technocrats, involved in a toxic affair he knows he needs to end, and all but supplanted in his daughter’s life by his ex-wife’s wealthy new husband, Rebus begins to wonder if he still has a role to play – either as a family man or a police officer. In a world of divisive politics and national discord, does the law still have meaning,...

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, the prequel series to Netflix’s Bridgerton, features some of the main cast members from the original and adds new actors to play younger versions of the characters. The limited series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story focuses on the titular supporting character from the main series as she rises from a young princess to Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland. Queen Charlotte and King George III’s courtship and Charlotte’s journey through English court life serve as the main plot. As a newcomer to England and the royal court, Charlotte contends with scheming advisors and nobles all vying for palace prominence.

Set during the Regency era of England, the main Bridgerton series follows the title family as they navigate London high society. The show's second season broke viewership records (via Variety), and its huge success led to the prequel series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,...

Hit BBC drama Vigil will look to the skies for its second series, with a brand-new investigation that takes Amy Silva (Suranne Jones) and Kirsten Longacre (Rose Leslie) into the world of the British air force. The six-part drama, made by World Productions (Line of Duty, Showtrial, Save Me, Bodyguard) for BBC One and iPlayer, will begin filming soon in Scotland. Following multiple unexplained fatalities at a Scottish military facility, Silva and Longacre are tasked with uncovering the cause. Entering the hostile and closed ranks of the air force, the pair must face the deadly warfare of tomorrow as they fight for their own future. Vigil stars Suranne Jones (Gentleman Jack, Doctor Foster) and Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones, Downtown Abbey) alongside Gary Lewis (His Dark Materials, Granite Harbour) who returns as Dsu Robertson. They will be joined for series two by Romola Garai (Becoming Elizabeth, The Hour), Dougray Scott (Crime,...

Exclusive: Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie are headed to the skies for the second season of BBC ratings hit Vigil, while Dougray Scott and Romola Garai are among nine new cast members joining them.

As expected, Jones and Leslie will return as detectives Amy Silva and Kirsten Longacre. Gary Lewis (His Dark Materials) also returns as DS Robertson.

In Season 2, Deadline has learnt that the leads will enter the closed and hostile environment of the Royal Air Force as they’re tasked with uncovering the cause of multiple unexplained fatalities at a Scottish military base.

Garai (Becoming Elizabeth, The Hour) and Scott (Crime, Enigma) will take major roles, as will Amir El-Masry (Sas Rogue Heroes, Limbo), David Elliot (The Liberator, Bulletproof), Chris Jenks (Sex Education, Karen Pirie), Tommy Sim’aan (The Midwich Cuckoos, Doctors), Oscar Salem (House of the Dragon, Des), Jonathan Ajayi...

Stars: Eva Green, Mark Strong, Billie Gadsdon, Chai Fonacier | Written by Garret Shanley | Directed by Lorcan Finnegan

Christine is a successful fashion designer. She lives with her marketing consultant husband Felix and their daughter Roberta in a huge house in the middle of Dublin. As Nocebo opens they’re out in front of that house with their expensive cars deciding who’s going to pick Roberta up from her private school. Life, as they say, has been good to her.

However, that’s about to change. At the showing of her latest designs, she steps away to take a call and a mangy-looking dog appears from nowhere to shower her with ticks before vanishing just as suddenly. Apparently as a result of a bite from one of those ticks she contracts a mysterious disease that leaves her sick, weak and suffering from memory lapses. Several months into her illness, Diana...

“Let the Badness Out.”

A nun mutters this as Jena Malone (The Ruins, The Neon Demon) finds her after a chase through the dark in an exclusive clip from Consecration. What follows gets macabre and unsettles her, but did it happen at all?

One thing is clear; there’s something seriously amiss at this convent. And more ominously, what is the badness that needs letting out?

The clip teases the latest mind-bending horror from Triangle, Black Death, and The Banishing director Christopher Smith. The psychological, convent-set horror film releases in theaters on February 10, 2023.

In Consecration, “Grace (Malone) goes to the Mount Saviour Convent in Scotland to find out what was behind the suspicious death of her brother, a priest. She is initially helped by Father Romero (Huston), but she soon comes to distrust the account of the church as she uncovers murder, sacrilege, and a disturbing truth about her own...

SkyShowtime, the European streaming joint venture of Comcast and Paramount Global, will continue its rollout with its biggest expansion to date via its launch in eight new markets across Central and Eastern Europe on Feb. 14.

The streamer said on Tuesday that it would debut on that day in Albania, Czechia, Hungary, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. This will bring its reach to 20 of its 22 targeted markets.

“Customers across these launch markets will have access to exclusive television premieres of first-run theatrical films from Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures, new and exclusive scripted series, kids and family content and a selection of iconic library titles and box sets from Nickelodeon, DreamWorks Animation, Paramount+, Showtime, Sky Studios and Peacock – all streaming in one place,” the company said.” SkyShowtime will also feature local original programming, documentaries and specials from its markets. The company recently announced a deal acquiring 21 original series from HBO Max in Europe,...

If police drama remains the bedrock of British TV commissions, with 2022 having welcomed crime series Karen Pirie, Marlow, Magpie Murders, The Responder, Sherwood and many more, broadcasters also gave us a glittering seam of new fantasy and horror. Last year saw a host of new British supernatural and sci-fi series, from Joe Barton’s sci-fi action-thriller The Lazarus Project and the criminally since-cancelled YA Netflix fantasy The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself, BBC Three teen horror Red Rose, Sky dark comedy The Baby, as well as a new telling of John Wyndham’s spooky children classic The Midwich Cuckoos.

Then there were shows that combined both threads, such as Amazon Prime’s mind-twisting The Devil’s Hour starring Peter Capaldi and Jessica Raine, and Pete Jackson’s excellent debut Somewhere Boy. And some new British TV shows didn’t even feature a single murder, like Netflix’s adored Heartstopper graphic novel adaptation.

Many of John Carpenter's best horror movies are counted as some of the best horror movies ever made. From Halloween to They Live, the director's heyday saw him innovate one of filmmaking's most important genres only for his career to decline.

Looking at every John Carpenter horror movie and its score on IMDb shows the ups and downs of one of the most widely revered film directors of the 20th century and how even masters of a genre can have a few duds to their name.

Ghost Of Mars (2001) – 4.9 Available to stream on Tubi

Ghosts of Mars is both John Carpenter's worst horror movie and his worst film overall according to voters on IMDb. While the bottom end of Carpenter's filmography can be ranked in various ways by fans, it should come as no surprise that this ended up taking last place on IMDb.

Related: 10 Underrated John Carpenter Movies,...

Stars: Eva Green, Mark Strong, Billie Gadsdon, Chai Fonacier | Written by Garret Shanley | Directed by Lorcan Finnegan

Christine is a successful fashion designer. She lives with her marketing consultant husband Felix and their daughter Roberta in a huge house in the middle of Dublin. As Nocebo opens they’re out in front of that house with their expensive cars deciding who’s going to pick Roberta up from her private school. Life, as they say, has been good to her.

However, that’s about to change. At the showing of her latest designs, she steps away to take a call and a mangy-looking dog appears from nowhere to shower her with ticks before vanishing just as suddenly. Apparently as a result of a bite from one of those ticks she contracts a mysterious disease that leaves her sick, weak and suffering from memory lapses. Several months into her illness, Diana...

This article contains mentions of graphic violence.

Halloween Ends is finally here, released on October 14, 2022, and fans are clamoring to see whether it will redeem the franchise after the middling Halloween Kills. John Carpenter is known as one of the Masters of Horror and has become one of the most influential filmmakers ever. But in reality, his career has had many ups and downs. Sometimes, Carpenter infuses action into his films - successfully with Escape from New York and horrifically unsuccessfully with Ghosts of Mars - other times he ditches horror all together, with films like Starman and Big Trouble In Little China.

But it's his horror films that Carpenter is best known for. From slasher classics to Stephen King adaptations and one very notorious shape-shifting alien in the antarctic, John Carpenter has made some of the scariest movies ever, and his terrifying legacy is sure to live on for decades to come.

The horror sub-genres of tentacle horror and home invasion thrills collide in the film The Stranger, which is now available on all VOD platforms in the United States. This movie marks the feature directorial debut of Mike Clarke, who previously directed multiple short films, and Paul Gerrard, who has worked as a concept artist on a couple dozen projects, including the upcoming Evil Dead film Evil Dead Rise. To get a preview of what Clarke and Gerrard have brought to the screen together, check out the trailer for The Stranger in the embed above.

Clarke and Gerrard also wrote The Stranger together, crafting the following story:

After the murder of her husband, Amanda relocates with her daughter, Karli, and purchases a hotel in the countryside. Their fresh start is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious man who pleads for shelter, fleeing an unknown threat.

The film stars Damien Ashley...

How many bad shows can a good actor star in before you have to start considering the possibly uncomfortable reality that they are, in fact, a bad actor? Well, this is an experiment that Keeley Hawes seems to be undertaking. Her second project of the year, after a middling adaptation of The Midwich Cuckoos, is the BBC’s new drama, Crossfire, written by Apple Tree Yard’s Louise Doughty. It finds Hawes trapped in a Spanish holiday resort as baby-faced gunmen go on the rampage. If her agent was looking for a project to make The Bodyguard look cerebral, boy did they find it.

Hawes is Jo, wife of Jason (Lee Ingleby) and mother of Adam (Noah Leggott) and Amara (Shalisha James-Davis). She’s just arrived on holiday with two other couples: Vikash Bhai’s Chinar and Anneika Rose’s Abhi, and Miriam (Josette Simon) and Ben (Daniel Ryan). The...

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SkyShowtime, the European streaming joint venture of Comcast’s Sky and Paramount Global, will launch on Sept. 20 in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, before debuting in the Netherlands during the fourth quarter, the companies said on Monday.

The service launch in a total of 22 markets had been eyed for late 2022 after the venture partners received approval from European regulators in February, but now the first date has been set, with additional market debuts targeted in the coming months or pushed into next year.

For example, the rollout plan covers service starts in Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Central and Eastern Europe, including the likes of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania, over the coming months and through the first quarter of 2023.

Exact further launch dates and pricing are expected to be unveiled over the coming months. Paramount Global teamed with Sky for SkyShowtime...

Keeley Hawes of Bodyguard and Line of Duty has signed on to join previously announced cast members Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Amanda Fix (Broken Diamonds), and Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) in the cast of Orphan Black: Echoes, a new series set in the world of the sci-fi thriller Orphan Black. Deadline reports that Hawes is taking on the role of “a perceptive but sensitive scientist who finds herself at odds with her own moral code when circumstances lead her to make an unthinkable choice.”

The first season of Orphan Black: Echoes will consist of ten episodes. The show is set in the near future and will “explore the scientific manipulation of human existence”. It follows

a group of women as they weave their way into each other’s lives and embark on a thrilling journey, unravelling the mystery of their identity and uncovering a wrenching story of love and betrayal.

Exclusive: Bodyguard and Line of Duty star Keeley Hawes has been tapped as a co-lead opposite Krysten Ritter in Orphan Black: Echoes, the upcoming offshoot series set in the world of Orphan Black, which is slated for a 2023 debut on AMC Networks’ digital platform AMC+ and linear nets.

The 10-episode Orphan Black: Echoes, produced and distributed globally by Boat Rocker, takes place in the near future and explores the scientific manipulation of human existence. It follows a group of women — two of them played by Hawes and Ritter — as they weave their way into each other’s lives and embark on a thrilling journey, unravelling the mystery of their identity and uncovering a wrenching story of love and betrayal.

Hawes will portray a perceptive but sensitive scientist who finds herself at odds with her own moral code when circumstances lead her to make an unthinkable choice. In addition to Ritter,...

Many of the movies John Carpenter has directed are frequently mentioned as some of the greatest genre movies ever made… but there are also Carpenter movies that don’t get referenced very often. One that you rarely hear about is his Village of the Damned (watch it Here), based on the John Wyndham novel The Midwich Cuckoos and a previous film adaptation that was released in 1960. We decided it’s time to give Carpenter’s Village of the Damned some attention, and you can find out what we had to say about it in the new episode of our video series The Black Sheep. Check it out in the embed above!

Village of the Damned has the following synopsis:

Ten months after the small California town of Midwich was struck by a mysterious event during which everyone in the village fell unconscious at once, 10 local women give birth on the same day.

“The Midwich Cuckoos” is the new Brit-produced science fiction TV series, created by David Farr, based on the 1957 book by John Wyndham, starring Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley airing September 1, 2022 on Showcase:

“…in ‘The Midwich Cuckoos’ all of the town's child-bearing aged women inexplicably fall pregnant. As these women give birth, ‘Midwich’ begins to realize these children are unlike any other.

“Each child resembles their mother but with alien additions. The government takes an immediate interest and imposes secrecy, paying the parents for their cooperation…”

Click the images to enlarge…...