Back to Black, the 2024 biopic about the life of Amy Winehouse that stars Marisa Abela, Jack O’Connell, Lesley Manville and Eddie Marsan, is now streaming on BBC iPlayer after airing on TV over the weekend.
The films covers Amy’s huge musical success, including the creation and release of 2006’s Back to Black, as well as her relationship with her father Mitch and her on-off partner Blake Fielder-Civil, and her struggles with drug addiction and alcoholism.
While films are usually only available on iPlayer for one month after airing on TV, Back to Black will remain on the service for two months.
The film was a magnet for controversy from those who thought it was sensationalising Amy’s life, given all of her personal tragedies and how invasive the paparazzi was during her time.
O’Connell – who played Blake – defended the movie from those critiques, calling it a “celebration” of the ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’ singer’s life and music.
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“Put it like this: if we were trying to portray her in any form of negative light, then that might be a valid point and I can understand one or two people pre-empting that,” he said.
Amy actor Abela also referenced the controversy in an interview with Digital Spy last year, stating that she wanted the film to pay tribute to the singer in the “right” way.
“It was like, ‘You know I feel like this too?’ No one thought as much as me that this has to be right. All I would say is that if anyone thinks, ‘God, this has to be good’, it was me,” she said.
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In the end, the film released to a mixed critical reception, with a 35% positive score from critics and an 85% positive score from fans on Rotten Tomatoes.
We at Digital Spy weren’t fans, praising Abela’s performance but wishing that the rest of the cast had more to sink their teeth into.
Back to Black can be streamed on BBC iPlayer and Studiocanal Presents, which is available as a Prime Video add-on.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I’m a Fish.