Foreign hello and welcome to Binge Watch, the podcast where we take a look at the hottest new TV and film releases on streaming television platforms.
Speaker AI'm Hannah Fernando, the group editor of Woman and Woman and Home magazine.
Speaker BAnd I'm Ian McKeown, writer on TV and Satellite Week, TV Times, what's on TV and whattowatch.com and today we're looking at the new releases that will be available on Friday the 12th, 25th of July 2025, including Keely Hawes and Freddie Highmore as a contract killer and her son in prime video thriller the Assassin and the return of Tom Baston's delightful family sitcom Here we go on BBC iPlayer.
Speaker AWe'll also be checking out Netflix medical documentary series Critical between life and death and rejoining Danny Dyer and friends for a second season of of riotous comedy Mr. Big Stuff on NOW TV.
Speaker ABut first, Ian, what is in the news?
Speaker BWell, move over posh and Bex because Wayne and Colleen Rooney are to star in their own reality TV show on Disney plus.
Speaker BWhat else is in the news?
Speaker BHannah?
Speaker AYes, that Wayne and Colleen Rooney reality TV show I do hope you'll be giving me to review.
Speaker AThank you very much.
Speaker AI'm looking forward to that.
Speaker AAlso we have to look forward to is Apple TV plus soon Sci Fi Murderbot which will be starring Alexander Skarsgard as a troubled cyborg who will return for a second series.
Speaker BIt's a top notch week, I won't lie.
Speaker BWe've got an amazing new thriller, we've got two excellent returning comedies and a very good medical documentary series.
Speaker BSo we're going to start on prime video with a new drama series called the Assassin.
Speaker BAnd here's a clip.
Speaker AWhat did you think that your mom did for a living?
Speaker BShe told me she was a headhunter.
Speaker AI used to do bad things.
Speaker ANo money.
Speaker ADid he say he do Hit Woman?
Speaker AI'm retired.
Speaker AExcept you didn't.
Speaker AOtherwise you would never have taken the job to kill me.
Speaker AWhich I did not do.
Speaker ASo you should probably get some credit for that.
Speaker BWell, Hannah, one of my all time fave drama series was Bates Motel which was like a prequel to Psycho about the young Norman Bates.
Speaker BHe was played by British actor Freddie Highmore.
Speaker BHe was superb in it.
Speaker BAnd of course Keeley Hawes is a delight in pretty much everything.
Speaker BThis is set in Greece and the last time Keeley Hawes was acting in Greece it was as Mrs. Durrell, wasn't it in the Durrells?
Speaker BThis one's a little bit different.
Speaker BSo she is playing Julie who is a Former contract killer who is living a quite sort of solitary but happy life on this remote Greek island.
Speaker BAnd her grown up son Edward, who is played by Highmore.
Speaker BHe turns up for a visit, but he's got some questions about his father, about this mysterious trust fund that he's come into.
Speaker BMeanwhile, Julie is approached to come out of retirement for, yes, one last job.
Speaker BAnd of course, as you can imagine, it all kicks off and they have to go on the run.
Speaker BNow this is created by Jack and Harry Williams who made the Missing and the Tourist amongst other things.
Speaker BAnd it's just great because the relationship between the two of them is very, very funny.
Speaker BIt's so well done, they're both perfectly cast, but it's also absolutely action packed.
Speaker BAnd I got to say, in episode one there's an incredibly high body count.
Speaker BI mean, it's staggering.
Speaker BAnd then.
Speaker BAnd a beautifully choreographed action set piece which I don't want to spoil.
Speaker BBut yeah, it starts with a flashback to, to when Julie was working as an assassin and just this all action sequence which I think is done all in one take where she's just, you know, mowing down bad guys.
Speaker BIt's pretty good.
Speaker BSo I, I absolutely loved this and it's just got such confidence.
Speaker BYou can tell the writers just are, are all over it and having a good time and basically the pair of them are going to leg it across Europe together.
Speaker BYou've got some other great actors in this.
Speaker BRichard Dormer from Blue Lights and Fortitude.
Speaker BLove him, he's Julie's handler.
Speaker BYou've got Jack Davenport.
Speaker BYes, from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
Speaker BHe is playing another contract killer.
Speaker BYou've also got Alan Dale from Neighbours as a billionaire.
Speaker BSo yes, this billionaire's family also gets caught up in the whole mystery.
Speaker BIt's great fun, it's very funny, it's absolutely action packed and I loved it.
Speaker BWhat did you think, Hannah?
Speaker AAs you say, Ian the assassin is.
Speaker AIt really is action packed.
Speaker AAnd what a stellar cast.
Speaker AI absolutely adore Keely Halls and she's absolutely brilliant in this, as you'd expect.
Speaker AYou know, this is got all the markings of something absolutely brilliant, you know, real quality.
Speaker AAnd I absolutely love the part that Keely Hawes plays where she's just completely growing old, disgracefully, you know, spending her days drinking, sunbathing, arguing with the locals and in this beautiful coastal backdrop, this Greek island makes for.
Speaker AIt's just beautiful and you kind of have that.
Speaker AAnd then her son arriving, as you say, Edward, looking for answers about his father and she's kind of approached to come out of retirement.
Speaker AAnd I love the fact, you know, quite often it'll be a man, won't it?
Speaker AThis kind of story revolves around.
Speaker ABut it isn't.
Speaker AIt's around a woman.
Speaker AAnd I.
Speaker AAnd I absolutely love it.
Speaker AAnd the dysfunctionality between these two is really credible.
Speaker AI've really enjoyed it.
Speaker AI mean, it's season one.
Speaker AI've seen a couple of episodes.
Speaker AI feel like this can run and run and run.
Speaker AReally good.
Speaker BWe're going to move over to SkyMax.
Speaker BAnd now for the return of the comedy Mr. Big Stuff.
Speaker BAnd here's a clip.
Speaker BTrauma thought my dad was dead.
Speaker BTurns out he just left us.
Speaker ASo we got some questions.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BMorning, Lee.
Speaker BWhat's that number 32.
Speaker AWe're throwing it out by J. Maureen Yoghurt pots are going to Bramping, don't they?
Speaker BMy darling comes in.
Speaker AAndy delighted that Mr. Big Stuff is returning for a second outing.
Speaker AThis is just great.
Speaker AI mean, Danny Dyer is phenomenal in this.
Speaker AI mean, when he turned up in EastEnders, I think, you know, everyone wondered if this is a bit of a one trick pony.
Speaker AHe's absolutely not.
Speaker AI think this is arguably one of the best things he's done too and really shows his kind of ability to not only make people laugh but also make people cry.
Speaker ASo I do think it's worth going back and watching the first series.
Speaker AIf you haven't done so, it kind of gives the context you'll catch up.
Speaker ABut I think it's better too if you can do.
Speaker AAnd this is just a real, again, quite a dysfunctional family.
Speaker AIt's a whirlwind of kind of capers and chaos and, you know, general debauchery at times.
Speaker AAnd Danny Dyer plays the part of Lee Campbell and his brother is a carpet salesman.
Speaker AGlenn and I didn't actually realise that Ryan, who plays Glenn is.
Speaker AWas actually wrote it all.
Speaker AAnd I watched them on the one show talking.
Speaker ADanny wasn't on it, but I watched Ryan talking and I didn't realize quite how close they were.
Speaker AAnd if you cast your mind back, Danny Dyer won the best male performance in comedy for this year's BAFTA TV Awards.
Speaker AAnd I was reading an interview and he actually cried when Danny went up.
Speaker AHe's just like, you're kind of absolute wreck.
Speaker AJust so, so proud of him.
Speaker AAnd he almost wrote this for Danny Dyer and you can absolutely see it.
Speaker ABut it's not just all fun and everything else, because I think even Danny Dyer himself, that it's when you can make someone laugh and cry in the same sentence in the same minute you're doing something special.
Speaker AAnd actually that's what this does here.
Speaker ASo there's a real dynamic because we left the last series thinking that their father had died.
Speaker AIn actual fact, he'd just left them.
Speaker ALots of questions, lots of things to be answered.
Speaker AAnd this shock discovery kind of rocks these, the siblings.
Speaker AAnd it's.
Speaker AIt's kind of.
Speaker AI suppose it's.
Speaker AIt's multi layered because of that.
Speaker ASo it's not just the kind of.
Speaker AThe capers and all the silliness that goes on.
Speaker AJust a word of warning, you will see Danny Dyer wearing next to nothing.
Speaker ASo for those of you who love Danny Dyer, there you go.
Speaker AYou're welcome.
Speaker AAlthough he does have, he said a little sock over his little friend or big friend, whatever.
Speaker AI don't know.
Speaker AWe don't actually see that, but there we go.
Speaker ADefinitely one to watch.
Speaker BSo this is the first of two comedies this week featuring and written by people who were in the Roman Empire comedy plebs.
Speaker BYeah, get that.
Speaker BAnyway, yeah, he's kind of having his big Lebowski moment in episode one because he's in this filthy dressing gown.
Speaker BHe.
Speaker BHe's sitting outside Glenn's house in a.
Speaker BIn an armchair with a Walkman on and just drinking endless Bloody Marys.
Speaker BAnd I love it when, when Glenn tells him off for drinking Bloody Mary's, he says it's a morning drink.
Speaker BBut, yeah, he's just.
Speaker BHe's superb in this role.
Speaker BIt's very, very funny.
Speaker BBut also, I've got to say that Samson is terrific as Glenn, who there's this sort of subplot that his.
Speaker BHis wife's kind of trying to get him into all this sub dom sex stuff because he's got erectile dysfunction.
Speaker BAnyway, you'll.
Speaker BYou'll get the gist.
Speaker BBut, yeah, it's got some good supporting actors in it as well, including the brilliant Adrian Scarborough, who plays the boss at the carpet shop.
Speaker BIf you like Danny Dyer, you're going to absolutely love this.
Speaker BBut it's just a very, very funny and original comedy.
Speaker BOver on Netflix, we have a new documentary series called Between Life and Death.
Speaker BAnd here's a clip.
Speaker BThere are four major trauma centres in each corner of London.
Speaker AAirflow everywhere.
Speaker AWhat's the blood doing at the moment?
Speaker AIs it trickling down his.
Speaker AOr is it spurting out?
Speaker AAcross the 6,000 calls that we take every day, we identify the most critically injured patients.
Speaker AThat's when London Ambulance Service gets involved.
Speaker BNo matter how old you are, everybody wants their mum.
Speaker BThis is a six Parter.
Speaker BAnd it's all about the people who work in London's major trauma response system, which is run across four different hospitals.
Speaker BAnd one of them is just around the corner from me, King's College Hospital.
Speaker BAnd episode one is all about this funfair ride accident that happens again very close to where I live in Brockwell park in Herne Hill.
Speaker BAnd it's a terrifying story.
Speaker BSo all these people were having a lovely sunny day out at a country fair, went on this fun fair ride, there was a major mechanical failure and quite a few people got injured.
Speaker BSo, yes, we follow them as they get taken into two different hospitals, including this young couple.
Speaker BAnd then there's a little girl and her grandfather that both got injured.
Speaker BAnd yeah, we hear from people who work in various different arms of the trauma team, from, you know, the people who take the call initially to the medics who are doing the surgery.
Speaker BIt's, I mean, it, at the end of the day, it just makes you think what an incredible NHS we have and we're so lucky.
Speaker BI mean, this is like world class level of care.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo there will be more stories across the six episodes we'll be visiting, so we go to St. George's and Kings in this, but we'll be visiting the two other hospitals as well and meeting other medics and various other bods who work in this trauma service.
Speaker BSo, yeah, it's a really well made documentary with some truly inspirational people working in the nhs.
Speaker BWhat did you think, Hannah?
Speaker AAs you say, Ian, this just shows our NHS at its very best, doesn't it?
Speaker AAnd it's, it shows what it can really do.
Speaker AIt's incredibly moving.
Speaker AThis is the first season, six episodes, as you say, and I guess that is, I always think this, but the very fine line between life and death and how it really brings home.
Speaker AI can't watch anything like this without crying.
Speaker AI've got to be honest with you.
Speaker ASeeing people go out normal day like we all do, go and choose to do something that you think is going to be fun and it ends in some form of tragedy where you just wouldn't ever expect something like this to happen.
Speaker AAnd this fun fair ride accident is, it's unbelievable.
Speaker AAnd seeing the major trauma response system in action is absolutely incredible.
Speaker AAnd knowing that these people do this day in, day out, whatever it might be, is just incredibly moving, I think.
Speaker AAnd also seeing people's journeys, this looks at the journey of how this happened, when it happened, the, the, the, the, the what happened to them and looks at the kind of the catastrophic Mechanical failure of that ride and how they've lived with it, how they.
Speaker AHow they've come out the other side and it's.
Speaker AIt's incredibly, incredibly moving.
Speaker ABut I think for something like this brings those moments.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AIt's real life, isn't it?
Speaker AWe read it in the papers, we see it on the news, but this feels.
Speaker AYou're there.
Speaker AYou can feel, you know, you can feel everything.
Speaker AAnd that's what happened next.
Speaker AAlmost is the missing part of the Jigsaw.
Speaker ASo well worth a watch.
Speaker BWe're going to finish over on BBC Iplayer with another returning comedy.
Speaker BIt's.
Speaker BHere we go and here's a clip.
Speaker BYeah, yeah.
Speaker ASo I just want to keep things super duper.
Speaker BChill.
Speaker AOut.
Speaker ACroggy.
Speaker AYeah, sorry.
Speaker AThis is, what, Granny's old house?
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd our kitchen was similar to theirs, actually.
Speaker AReally Less, you know, chicken.
Speaker AWell, yeah, yeah.
Speaker AI'm naturally quite a flexible person.
Speaker AYou're about to get the money shot.
Speaker AYep.
Speaker AThis is the third outing for Here We Go.
Speaker ASo it must be good, right, because it wouldn't keep coming back.
Speaker AAnd you're right, it is absolutely, absolutely brilliant.
Speaker AThis just has the markings of the Office all over it.
Speaker ASo if you like the Office, I think you'll really like this.
Speaker AIf you haven't watched it already, which you should have done, please catch up, binge, watch, go and do it.
Speaker AIt's seven parts.
Speaker AAnd we're back with the very hapless police constable, Paul Jessup.
Speaker AHe's a neurotic wife, Rachel, played by Catherine Parkinson.
Speaker AA very sarcastic daughter, Amy, played by Freya Parks, and her loyal girlfriend Maya, played by Micah Ricketts.
Speaker AAnd then the stoic son, Sam, played by Jude Morgan Colle.
Speaker AAnd the best one of all for me is his very cheerful, happy mum, sue, who's played by Alison Stephan, who I absolutely love.
Speaker ALots of you will know her from Gavin and Stacey, Pamela.
Speaker AAnd she's just got so many strings to her bow, hasn't she?
Speaker AShe's just so brilliant.
Speaker AI just love the characters that she kind of consumes and for me, it's worth watching for her alone.
Speaker ABut this is really hearty.
Speaker AIt's really brilliant.
Speaker AI really enjoyed it.
Speaker AWhat did you think, Ian?
Speaker BI have watched a lot of them and yes, as I said, it's created by and also stars someone else from Plebs, Tom Baston, who is just ridiculously talented.
Speaker BHe's done quite a lot of work with Ricky Gervais.
Speaker BHe's adapted lots of plays for the theater and written his own plays.
Speaker BThis year, he Wrote and starred in the Ballad of Wallace island with Tim Key and Carey Mulligan, which has got, you know, everyone absolutely loved it.
Speaker BIt's a brilliant film.
Speaker BGo and see it if you haven't.
Speaker BAnd yes, and now this.
Speaker BI mean, you know, you kind of think reinventing the domestic sitcom is challenging, but this is just an absolute delight.
Speaker BAnd as you say, it's got that office style vibe because they've.
Speaker BThey're using the conceit that the son loves filming stuff.
Speaker BSo he's.
Speaker BHe keeps filming what the rest of the family are doing, which unfortunately for that character, means he doesn't really get involved that much.
Speaker BBut yes, episode one, they're booked in to do an escape room, the family.
Speaker BBut, but they get lots in the house, so, yeah, that's how it pans out.
Speaker BAnd it's just an absolute joy.
Speaker BIt's just a perfect bit of escapism and, you know, they're just such a.
Speaker BSuch a great family.
Speaker BIt's very, very funny.
Speaker BI absolutely love it.
Speaker BWell, we've got to that time, young Hannah, we find out what the hell you've been binge watching this week.
Speaker AWell, I've been binging on Better man, which a lot of you may have watched at the cinema.
Speaker AIt was a huge box office hit with Robbie Williams, A story about Robbie Williams life you probably remember because it's kind of like a monkey's face on the billboards.
Speaker AAnd this basically catalogues the.
Speaker AThe rise of Robbie, the fall of Robbie and then the meteoric rise once again, him finding happiness.
Speaker AAnd it's, it's, it's really brilliantly done, I think.
Speaker AAnd I mean, I'm a huge fan of Robbie Williams and in fact, he's the only member of Take that that I haven't met and I've never wanted to in case it ruins my.
Speaker AHe was the.
Speaker AHe was the one that had all my posters on the wall when I was growing up.
Speaker AAnd I just.
Speaker ABut I met someone the other day who said, he's lovely, so it's okay, you can.
Speaker ASo I will.
Speaker ANext time I get an opportunity, I'm there.
Speaker ABut this is really sad because although it's brilliant, it's really sad in places because yet again, and we've spoken about this so many times about this child stars and just how he's famous so much and so many.
Speaker AUnless you've got a really robust framework around you, you really do fall.
Speaker AAnd he's fallen a few times and he's managed to pick himself up and he seems in an incredibly good place, his amazing wife.
Speaker AThey seem to be brilliant together.
Speaker ASo it's really lovely.
Speaker ABut definitely want to watch.
Speaker BVery nice.
Speaker BWell, I have watched the second season of the Netflix sports documentary Quarterback, yeah, which is all about American football.
Speaker BAnd it's following three quarterbacks from three football teams.
Speaker BYou've got the Detroit Lions, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaker BAnd yeah, if you're into your American football, it's, yeah, it's just really, really good.
Speaker BWell, we've just got time to look ahead to next week's offerings.
Speaker BSo Aquaman's Jason Momoa will star in the Apple TV plus period drama Chief of War set in the islands of Hawaii at the turn of the 18th century.
Speaker AAnd a student and her poetry professor fall in love in Oxford set Netflix romance My Oxford Year.
Speaker BSo we look forward to those and much, much more.
Speaker BBut in the meantime, dear listeners.