It’s a bank holiday weekend, and the BBC has got you sorted with the perfect movie watch tonight.
British biopic Darkest Hour saw Gary Oldman land some of the best reviews of his career for his portrayal of Winston Churchill. He won Best Actor at the Oscars to go with his other wins at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes and the SAG Awards.
The movie is set in the early days of World War II during the May 1940 war cabinet crisis where Churchill had to fight to persuade his cabinet to continue fighting the war, rather than discussing peace terms with Germany.
Also starring Ben Mendelsohn, Lily James, Kristin Scott Thomas and more, Darkest Hour was praised as a “rip-roaring take” on the pivotal moment, with the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus highlighting Oldman’s “electrifying performance”.
If you haven’t seen the movie or fancy a rewatch, Darkest Hour airs tonight at 8pm on BBC One.
Universal
Related: Gary Oldman’s excellent spy thriller has just been added to Prime Video
Don’t worry if you’ve got other plans on a Monday evening, as Darkest Hour will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer shortly after broadcast.
Back in 2018, Oldman revealed that he used a “Churchill app” to get into character.
“You download it on your phone and it’s got all the speeches. So I could travel with Churchill my pocket. There were certain things I just had it on repeat,” he explained.
Universal
Related: Gary Oldman lands exciting new role
He also teased the possibility of playing Churchill again in either a movie set later during World War II, or in an adaptation of a short story that Churchill wrote called The Dream.
“There could be [a sequel] because at the end of the war, there’s the summit with Stalin and [Roosevelt]. Roosevelt’s a great character; he’s on his way out. So maybe,” Oldman noted.
“[The Dream is about] the ghost of his father, Randolph, who visits him in his studio at Chartwell. It’s two people, not an expensive thing to do. It might be something I’ll try and get on its feet.”
Neither of them have come to pass yet, so you’ll just have to make do with his award-winning performance in Darkest Hour instead.
Darkest Hour airs tonight on BBC One at 8pm, and will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer shortly after broadcast.
Shop Sky TV, broadband and mobile deals
Stranger Things Hellfire Club Dice Dangle CharmCredit: Pandora
Shop Claudia Winkleman’s Traitors looksCredit: BBC / Studio Lambert
Richard Osman: We Solve MurdersCredit: Viking
Shop PS5 consolesCredit: PlayStation
Shop Alison Hammond’s outfitsCredit: Mark Bourdillon
Apple TV+ 7-day free trialCredit: Apple TV+
Sign up for Disney+Credit: Chuck Zlotnick
The Street of Lies: An Official Coronation Street Interactive NovelCredit: Octopus Books
Death in Paradise: The Puzzle BookCredit: BBC Books
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.