This week we (begin) to say goodbye to the biggest show on the planet as we enjoy the first of three final parts of the Netflix hit Stranger Things. We also welcome the Fab Four back to our screens with a remastered anthology featuring a brand new part. Elsewhere the terrifying story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s six-year imprisonment in Iran is dramatised on BBC iPlayer while Tom Hiddleston narrates Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age. As if that’s not enough, we’ve even got a Julia Roberts film.
Here’s your weekend watchlist …
Stranger Things (Netflix)
It’s been a long three-year wait for fans of Netflix’s sci-fi behemoth, but now we have the first four episodes of the final series available to stream. We pick up in 1987 and with Hawkins, Indiana, under lockdown, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and her young friends (many of whom are now well into their twenties in real life) are forced to take matters into their own hands as Vecna plots to bring them down once and for all. In the UK we will have to wait until the early hours of Boxing Day morning for the next instalment, with the final feature-length episode on New Year’s Day at 1am.
Read our full review
The Beatles Anthology (Disney+)
It was thirty years ago that the three remaining Beatles got together to participate in the anthology project, the most extensive documentary about the Fab Four. It was accompanied by new music in the shape of Free as a Bird and Real Love and three double albums of outtakes and curios from their career. Now, with a new part detailing George, Paul and Ringo’s involvement in the initial anthology and a restored version of the original series by Peter Jackson’s production company, Beatles fans can take a trip down memory lane with the greatest songs ever committed to tape.
The Beatles Anthology — behind the scenes of their great reunion
Prisoner 951 (BBC iPlayer)
In April 2016 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran airport while returning to the UK after visiting her family in Iran. She would stay imprisoned in Iran for more than six years, separated from her husband, Richard, and their child. Based on eyewitness interviews, archive documents and A Yard Full of Sky, the book that she and Richard will release next year, this powerful drama plunges viewers into the nightmare of her arrest and imprisonment. Meanwhile, back home Richard is left fighting for justice as the years pass by.
Read our full review
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age (Apple TV+)
While the first two series of this beautifully crafted CGI trip into the prehistoric world were narrated by the voice of British natural history, David Attenborough, this series relies on the soothing tones of Tom Hiddleston to keep us company. If you’ve ever wondered what went on during the Ice Age these wonderful episodes featuring woolly rhinos, giant sloths and majestic sabre-toothed cats help to bring alive a forgotten time in terrifyingly realistic detail.
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After the Hunt (Prime Video)
Starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny this gripping psychological thriller is directed by Luca Guadagnino and tells the story of a college professor (Roberts) at a personal and professional crossroads after a student (Edebiri) makes an accusation against one of her colleagues (Garfield). Things are complicated further when a dark secret from her past threatens to come to light as a taut and exciting story unravels.
Read our full review